Teen Titans: Prince Charming
by Seth Turtle
Summary: Primarily a RobinStarfire fic. Starfire is taken home to marry a prince in order to end a deadly civil war. But, it turns out someone on Tamaran is setting a trap, and Starfire is the key.
1. Act I: The King

  


_Megafest_. That was the name given to the biggest gang party in San Francisco. It was a rave to end all raves - an orgasmic gathering of every ruffian, gangster, and self-titled supercriminal in the city. It was a time to tell war stories, to enjoy the company of the opposite sex and the drugs used to spice up the evening. It was a time to cause property damage in the regions of the city the cops were afraid to go.

A techno beat drove the spirit of everyone there like the beat of a drum. Legions of anarchistic teens and young adults danced about like tribal barbarians in some History Channel documentary. The music drove their spirits into an undefinable bliss that transcended anything a drug could make. But taking drugs at the same time didn't hurt.

Robin looked at the sea of people from a gargoyle perch above. He saw gatherings like this in Gotham City all the time, though the clothing was different. Gotham still adhered to the English and Victorian styles of fashion, rather than the west coast's futuristic designs. Nevertheless, the feeling of pure freedom was the same. And a part of him missed it.

_"Man, I wouldn't mind being down there,"_ Beast Boy said through a secure channel. _"Watching is no fun."_

"They're disturbing the peace. Plus there's illegal narcotics. We can't let this continue." Robin felt like an old man, saying that. He wasn't into drugs, but the party itself seemed like a lot of fun. He wouldn't mind jumping into the fray with Beast Boy and partying until dawn.

_"I agree that we should stop the loud noise and flashing lights,"_ Starfire said, her voice bubbling with naivety. _"And if there are bad drugs down there, we must stop them from being used."_

Robin stood up and put his hand to his ear to adjust his radio earplug. "Raven, Cyborg, are you in position?"

_"Yo, you'll have to speak up Robin! I can't hear a word down here!"_

_"...I'm ready,"_ Raven muttered. _"The sooner it gets quiet, the better."_

Robin scanned the crowd once more and decided who would go where. "Cyborg will handle the stereo towers. Raven, take out the field lights. Starfire, Beast Boy, you have crowd control. Try to disperse the people without hurting them."

_"Easy for you to say,"_ Beast Boy griped. _"It's hard for a rhino to pussy-foot his way through a crowd that thick."_

"Just do your best. We don't want to hurt anyone. I'll keep an eye out for threats."

_"Why do you get the easy job,"_ Cyborg joked. _"Oh, that's right. All you got's a polymerized titanium suit and a magic belt."_

Robin frowned. "You want to trade? I could probably take out those speakers faster than you can."

_"Enough,"_ Raven cut in. It was usually her job to stop a fight between the two biggest egos on the team. _"Everyone's in position."_

"Right. On my signal." Robin drew a set of nightvision lenses from his utility belt and slid them over his mask before wrapping the lensband around his head. Everything he saw now had a green tint, which would be useful in spotting people in the dark when the lamps went out.

As the techno beat reached a crescendo, Robin shouted the order. "Titans, go!"

In seconds, the speakers died out as they lost power. The dancing crowd protested this immediately, but it was only a precursor of things to come. The massive field lights wired to the surrounding rooftops died next, leaving only the normal street lamps to light the area. The crowd started to panic, even though many of them were so-called criminals.

The panic increased when Starfire appeared as a green glow above the crowd. Her starbolts exploded at random points above streetlevel, scaring most of the people into fleeing. Beast Boy added to the controlled chaos by bulldozing his rhino-self way through the crowd center, parting it like the Red Sea. Robin watched the chaos through his nightvision lenses, keeping an eye out for anyone being trampled or seriously injured in the panic. Luckily, nobody was hurt that bad... yet.

Then, the resistance came. Members of the crowd packing more heat than the others stood their ground and fought back. Laser rifles and pistols (courtesy of the black market arms dealers scattered throughout the city) lit up the darkness as they shot towards Star and B.B. in bursts. Starfire managed to avoid most of the shots by flying higher into the sky and increasing her own rate of fire. By throwing more starbolts, she was able to force the closest enemies into running for cover. But still, she didn't escape unscathed.

Beast Boy's tough hide protected him only for so long. The laser blasts of half a dozen thugs could hurt even an animal as tough as a rhinoceros. Fed up with being used for target practice, Beast Boy charged the closest gunner and smacked him aside by swinging his head like a hammer. He continued the process with the other shooters, quickly dispatching them in turn. Soon, the street around him was pacified, but that was only temporary. The fleeing crowd was regaining its bravado, and they were willing to fight the oppressive superheroes with pipes and chains if need be.

_"Uh... guys, we're going to need help down here," _Beast Boy said after quickly reverting to human form. _"Star and I are outnumbered by about a million people."_

_"I can't use my Sonic Blaster without hurting anyone. Ray?"_

A pair of burning white eyes pierced the darkness surrounding the street. "Azarath, Metrion, SYNTHOS!" The street shook as cars, trucks, dumpsters, and anything not nailed down was dragged to the road. The debris piled up until a massive wall was formed. The mob couldn't get to Starfire and Beast Boy, but this only solved one problem.

_"We must calm these people down,"_ Starfire realized. _"But how do we do so without hurting anyone?"_

"Leave that to me," Robin answered. He leapt from the rooftop and freefell towards the street as he reached into one of his belt pouches. He drew a handful of gas bombs that would put the crowd to sleep in no time, and threw them horizontally so that they would fan out as they fell. Quickly, Robin drew his lifeline and shot it at a nearby building so that he could swing to the ground safely. The gas bombs shattered on impact with the street and dispersed in all directions, catching the mob off-guard. Robin and the other Titans ran for cover so that they wouldn't be caught in the gas themselves. Soon, the crowd was fast asleep.

"Nice work," Robin congratulated. "No casualities."

"Yeah, but I'm going to have a wicked rash from those lasers," Beast Boy complained as he rubbed his side and face.

"Let us recover the bad drugs and get these people out of the street," Starfire suggested.

"Oh, great," Raven sighed. "This will take all night."

"No one ever said being a hero would be easy," Cyborg said. Raven couldn't disagree.

Unbeknownst to the heroes, they were being watched intently by two shadowy figures, both from an alien world. 

"Koriand'r has grown up. She is truly beautiful."

"More beautiful than me?" 

The other voice chuckled. "Perhaps. But you are smarter and stronger. I like that in my women."

"Daddy will be here any day now to tell Starfire the good news. Soon, you'll be in position to take over the whole planet."

"Yes. Soon, Tamaran and all her treasures will be ours."

~~

  


_** The tune for "Teen Titans, Go!" begins and shows the opening credit animation. **_

  


When there's trouble, you know who to ca~ll! Teen Titans!

From their tower, they can see it a~ll! Teen Titans!

When there's evil on the attack, 

you can rest knowing they've got your back!

Cuz when the world needs heroes on patro~l! Teen Titans, GO!

  


With their super powers they uni~te! Teen Titans!

Never met a villain that they li~ked! Teen Titans!

They've got the bad guys on the run!

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done!

When the world is losing all contro~l! Teen Titans, GO!

  


1-2-3-4-GO! Teen Titans!

  


**Prince Charming - Part I**

  


[Background Music] *_Pump it up... pu-pump it up...*_

Robin pushed with all his might to lift the dumbbell off his chest. The weight was more than he was used to, but he had no doubt in his mind that he could lift it at least once. With that goal in mind, Robin used every ounce of strength in his body and pushed. The dumbbell refused to move very far, but Robin kept pushing. Slowly, the bar moved up...

"Robin! Hello!" Starfire said cheerfully as she hovered face-to-face with the Boy Wonder. "Are you doing the 'working out' now?"

"What...does it... look like... I'm doing...?" he replied through gritted teeth. The arrival of Starfire threw off Robin's rhythm, and the dumbbell sank to his chest. Robin took several deep breaths while straining against the weight and tried again to push to a full extension. Starfire cocked her head curiously and watched, still hovering above him.

"Why do you do such a painful activity for such little gain?" Starfire asked. "Is it not easier to bask in the sunlight to gain strength?"

Robin ignored the question in order to keep his focus. Starfire would eventually remember that humans didn't absorb sunlight into their bodies to grow stronger like Tamarans did.

Starfire hovered dangerously close to Robin's face, her lips inches away from his. Robin struggled to keep his focus, but his arms were wobbling rapidly. Starfire looked at Robin's face, then the dumbbell, and back at him again. Robin couldn't help but notice how good she smelled... like strawberries.

"Are you now 'pumped up'?" Starfire remembered Beast Boy flexing his arms when asked about the 'pumped up' status. He then told Raven to feel his muscle - which she didn't, as was her usual response to any of Beast Boy's requests. Perhaps now would be the appropriate time for Starfire to determine if Robin was 'pumped up'. Starfire reached for Robin's arm to feel his muscle, expecting it to be rock-hard.

"Star-don't!" But it was too late. She grabbed his arm very gently (for her). It was enough to break the tension in Robin's arm. The dumbbell fell with considerable force, which would have crushed Robin's chest with ease, had Starfire not caught the bar. 

"I am sorry!" Starfire said. She held the dumbbell behind her back like a cheerleader's baton, as if to hide the evidence of her mistake. She quickly placed the dumbbell back on the stand. "I did not know that would happen! I am so sorry!"

Robin massaged his aching arm. "Star, you can't distract me when I'm working out. Humans have to work very hard to stay in shape. You can seriously hurt someone if you interfere with weight-lifting."

Starfire gasped fearfully and rushed to Robin's immediate side. "Is your injury serious!?" She grasped his arm and massaged the spot she touched as gently, yet insistently, as possible. "Oh, I am such a vy-glork! I have caused irrepairable damage!" 

Robin sweatdropped at Starfire's overreaction. "I'm not hurt that bad, Star. It's just, I could have been hurt. Humans break very easily compared to aliens." 

"I sincerely apologize," she repeated. Starfire continued to massage Robin's arm, although he'd said he was alright. Robin didn't complain about the free massage, though.

"On my planet, your abilities would mark you as a Tamaran prince - the man that all the young girls wished to marry. I sometimes forget that you are not a prince." Starfire's cheeks reddened slightly as she visualized herself in a wedding gown, with Robin standing at her side. 

Robin blinked, though Star couldn't tell because of his mask. "Um... thanks. But I'm no prince. I'm just me."

Starfire smiled brightly. "I would not want you to be any other way!" She floated into the air and flew to the room's entrance before turning around expectantly. "So, are you finished with the 'working out'?"

"Is that why you came in here?" Robin smirked suspiciously. "I bet you messed me up on purpose, just so I'd go with you."

"You know I would never hurt you, Robin," Starfire said fondly. "But I planned to do the 'wet willy' to make you chase me!" The red haired nymph spun in mid-air as she giggled, then flew out the door.

Robin smiled and ran out the door after her. "You asked for it!" And from there, the chase began. Robin raced down the hall and rounded the corner, only to see Starfire hovering in wait. When she saw him round the bend, she continued down the hall, unable to stop giggling in delight.

A door slid open as Raven walked out of her room, curious at the noise in the hall. "What is going on out here?" 

The mystic was nearly hit by Starfire as she zoomed by. Raven turned to 'yell' at her, until Robin shouted a warning of 'Gang Way!' to make her jump aside. Raven breathed deeply to still her beating heart. When she was calm again, a red vein bulged on her forehead in irritation.

"...Kids," she growled. Raven stomped back into her room before the joyfulness triggered her gag reflex.

"Catch me, Robin!" Starfire cheered. She raced down the hall towards the den, where Cyborg and Beast Boy were duking it out on the Gamestation. Starfire wisked past them and hovered in front of the theater screen, just as Robin reached the den entrance.

"Yo Star! Move it or lose it!" Cyborg said. "We're using the screen here!" 

Starfire paid him no heed, her eyes firmly set on Robin as he 'stalked' his way towards the couch with a tiger-like grin. She too was grinning in anticipation.

Beast Boy cocked an eyebrow at the giggling alien. "Dude, what's got you so worked up?" 

His answer came when Robin leapt over the couch to tackle her, and instead dove head-first into the screen. Luckily, the screen was strong enough to withstand the blow, so Robin just slid down to the floor and landed with a thud. Starfire hovered over to the couch and 'landed' on the crest, her feet barely touching the couch material. Both Beast Boy and Cyborg were staring in surprise at the Boy Wonder.

"Are you giving up already?" Starfire teased, knowing such a comment would inflame Robin's passion for victory even further.

Robin leapt from the floor to the couch with surprising speed and tackled the taunting Tamaran. They landed on the floor, where Robin exacted his revenge for the wet willy that never happened. He tickled Starfire's sides, making her squirm uncontrollably and laugh like mad.

"Ah-hah-hah-hah! Not fair!" she shouted through her laughing fit.

"All's fair in wrestling!" Robin retorted, not letting up.

Beast Boy, now in a playful mood, leapt over the couch and tackled Robin. "I'll save ya Star!" He grabbed Robin in a headlock and wrestled with his fellow Titan. Robin fought back with some moves of his own, each of them going all-out as far as WWE-style combat went.

"Oh, save me!" Star said, in mockery of the helpless damsel-in-distress that seemed so common in Robin's collection of Earth movies.

Beast Boy managed to flip Robin over with a suplex, stunning the hero momentarily. The green Titan held his arms up towards an imaginary audience. 

"And Beast Boy goes for his ultimate move!" Cyborg said as the announcer. 

Beast Boy hopped four times in a circle, with Cy' shouting the letters 'W-O-R-M' in time with the hops, before turning into a giant squiggly worm himself. He wiggled his way across the floor before changing back to normal and elbow-dropping Robin in the gut. Cyborg laughed his metallic socks off, while Robin lay there in imaginary agony. 

Starfire held up Beast Boy's hand, declaring him the winner of the wrestling match. The four Titans all had a good laugh and applauded each other on their performance.

Raven stood at the den entrance, her hands on her hips. "You guys... are idiots." Raven picked up the book she was always reading (the 'Epitaph of Twilight', adapted by Takeru Takaishi) from one of the tables and went down the hall towards her room.

Cyborg scowled at the hallway. "That girl needs a boyfriend. Or some Prozac."

"Worry not about Raven's seeming lack of humor," Starfire said as she floated to a stool in the kitchen. "She is simply a quiet person. I have shared laughter with her on occasion, and we have even done the girl talk!"

"Seriously!?" Beast Boy shrieked. He zipped to Star's side, and his ear inflated to five times its size. "You guys tell secrets? What kind of secrets? Anything about me?"

"They would not be secrets if I spoke of them," Starfire replied with a mischievous grin. "But she would be especially mad if I told _you._"

Fireworks went off in the mutant's mind. Beast Boy gave a thumbs-up. "Your silence speaks volumes!"

_*Knock, Knock*_ The sound of knocking played from the speakers, indicating that someone was literally knocking on their front door several stories below.

"Alright, our pizza's here!" Cyborg cheered. He pushed a few keys on the theater remote to connect with the door camera, expecting to see the pizza guy waiting. To everyone's surprise though, someone much more imposing was waiting there. It was a muscular, well-dressed man in elegant robes and wearing what appeared to be a crown of olive figs.

"...Did you order from Little Caesar's by any chance?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin picked up on an important detail. On the man's forehead were two red dots, not unlike Starfire's peculiar marks. "That man is an alien."

Starfire looked up at the screen, not having paid attention. Her eyes bugged out of their sockets when she saw who it was. "It is my father!"

Lightning struck in Robin's mind. "Your WHAT!?"

The man impatiently knocked on the door several times more, much louder than before. Through the camera, the teens heard his complaints. _"Open this door now! I demand to see Koriand'r!"_

Starfire literally shrieked with delight. "I must prepare for my father's arrival!"

"Wait Star! What do we-!" Robin's question was cut off by Starfire zipping down the hall at light speed, leaving a dust trail behind. The knocking grew louder and louder still.

_"Open this door!!"_ the man shouted. His patience was growing thinner by the second.

"You go answer it!" Beast Boy cried to Cyborg.

"YOU go answer it!" Cy' cried to Beast Boy. They went back and forth like this until Robin stepped in, his face dripping with nervous sweat.

"...I'll go answer it," Robin said. He headed for the elevator, which shot down to the bottom floor.

Beast Boy and Cyborg watched the elevator descend like a casket. "Nice knowing you, dude."

Robin stepped to the front door at the bottom floor, only to be blown back as the door was slammed down by the Tamaran's foot. The man stomped into the entry hall and towered over Robin like a demonic force.

"Where's my DAUGHTER!" he demanded.

"Calm down, Mister! She's upstairs!"

"'Mister'!? I am Myand'r, King of Northern Tamaran! You will address me as such!"

Robin did a double-take. "Wait. You're Star's father... and a King? Doesn't that make Star a..."

"Bring me to her, NOW!" His bellow shook the very foundation of Titans Tower.

"Y-y-yessir!" Robin scrambled for the elevator and frantically pushed the button for the fourth floor. Myand'r stomped inside with Robin, and the lift whisked to the upper stories. The door opened into the den, where Cyborg and Beast Boy were waiting.

"Hi, Starfire's dad!" Beast Boy said with a wave. "How's life in the Vegan star system?"

Cyborg elbowed him hard and whispered a warning. (They're at war, man! Life probably sucks right now.)

Myand'r glared at the mutant, excentuating the point. Beast Boy laughed nervously before changing into a turtle and shrinking into his shell. Cyborg sweatdropped and groaned.

Starfire dashed from the hallway and carried several dozen video disks and a stack of photo albums to the couch. When she saw her father, she exploded with joy (almost literally -- her starbolts lit the rug on fire with her happiness). 

"Gipuu!" she shouted in the Tamaranian language.

"Vargna!" The man's temperment did a 180-degree turn, going from stern and mad to utterly joyful. The two Tamarans flew across the room and tackled each other in a mid-air hug. The two of them looked so happy to see each other, that it was incredible. Disney films didn't have this much joy in them.

Beast Boy reverted to normal when he saw the mood change. "Wow. He must be really happy to see her."

"The Vegan star system is very far away," Robin said, smiling at the rapid exchanges between father and daughter. "And Tamaran's subspace communication devices can't transmit at that distance. So Starfire's only contact with her father has been through interstellar mail."

Cyborg finished putting out the rug fire with a bucket of water. "Starfire's only been here a year. But I guess that feels like an eternity when you're away from home."

Starfire and her father floated to the ground once they finished their initial reunion. Starfire clung to her father's arm like he was a giant teddy bear. "Friends! I must introduce you to my father!"

"I have heard so much about you all," Myand'r said with a bright smile. "I hoped to cause more chaos with my initial bellowing, but I didn't anticipate your politeness."

"Wait a minute," Cyborg said. "You were faking all that anger?"

"Of course. Is it not customary for an Earth father to storm into his daughter's co-gender home that way?" 

Robin and Cyborg crashed to the ground in exasperation. Beast Boy looked at them as he scratched his head. "Starfire had to get her loopiness from somewhere, right?" Both faceplanted teens groaned.

"This, is Beast Boy!" Starfire said cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you!" Myand'r bellowed politely. He grasped Beast Boy's hand in a crushing grip, making the mutant gasp in pain.

"Same here," Beast Boy whimpered. His hand was now devoid of bone matter.

Starfire brought her father to Cyborg and introduced him next. Cyborg held out his hand to shake, but Myand'r went into a series of hand slaps, fist smacks, thumb twists, and half-grabs in an attempt to do the stereotypical 'cool handshake'. Cyborg, reluctantly, let him finish his handshake on his own.

"How's it going, my brother!" the king said in closing. Cyborg glared at Star, who blushed and smiled apologetically.

"Ecstatic," he replied eventually.

Myand'r turned to the final teenager in the room. The king smiled knowingly as Starfire introduced him. "This, is Robin." Robin grasped hands with the man and shook firmly.

"I have heard so much about you," Myand'r said. "My daughter speaks often of your talents, and your kindness in helping her adapt to your planet's culture."

"Just doing what I can to help a friend," he replied. Robin turned to said friend. "You never told us your father was royalty."

"I... did not want to complicate things. I wish to be a normal Earth girl, not a dee-nee-tary in a foreign land."

"Dignitary," Robin corrected.

"Not right now, thank you," Starfire said. Robin sweatdropped, and gave up.

"There appears to be a Titan missing," Myand'r noticed. "I remember two Earth birds being on your team, yet only one is here." Cyborg laughed at Robin's embarassment at the comment.

"Raven is here somewhere," Starfire said. "I shall get her!" The alien girl 'bee-beeped' like the Roadrunner and zipped off at high speed, leaving the gathering of men to be amazed at her energy.

"If you don't mind me asking," Robin said, "why are you here on Earth? Even for a Tamaran, flying here takes more than a week. A king leaving his planet for that long can't be normal."

Myand'r nodded grimly. "My planet's civil war is reaching an all-time high. The prince of the Southern continent and I have been working hard to stave off total genocide, but nothing has stemmed the passions of my people. The Tamaran are a proud warrior race with strong emotions."

"So we've noticed," Cyborg said. Starfire could get pretty mean when she was angry, and yet could be the purest soul ever to grace the planet only seconds later. It bordered on psychotic.

"The prince and I believe that the only way to stop the war between our people is to unite our royal families. Our people place great value on the bonds of friendship and family."

"Again, we've noticed," Beast Boy said. Starfire put a great deal of effort into maintaining and starting friendships - sometimes too much effort.

"How are you plannin' to unite the royal families?" Cyborg asked.

Robin bowed his head solemnly. Being a super detective, he already knew the answer. "...Starfire has to marry the prince." Cyborg's and Beast Boy's eyes bugged out of their sockets.

"That is correct," Myand'r said. "I am glad you understand so easily. This will make things easier."

"Starfire can't get married!" Beast Boy shouted. "She's like, young and hot! Only old people get married!"

"Watch what you say about my daughter," the king snapped. Beast Boy jumped into turtle form and shrank into his shell again.

"What he means," Cyborg cut in, "is that Starfire is an integral part of our team. If she leaves, the Teen Titans will be a whole lot weaker. Besides, she's our friend. We don't want her to leave."

"I understand your concerns," Myand'r replied. "But I am afraid there is no other choice. With her sister an outlaw, Koriand'r is the only member of the Northern Tamaran royalty that can save our planet from genocide."

Cyborg crossed his arms indignantly. "Isn't planetary warfare what the Justice League is for? Robin, say something!"

Robin's head was still bowed in solemn thought. He gently spoke up. "How long do we have until she has to leave?"

"We must leave as soon as possible to return to our planet. The war has paused due to a period of religious fasting, but that period will end in a week's time. We must be ready to end the war by then. But... I will wait until the next morning so that you can say goodbye."

Robin looked up. "Thank you." He walked towards the hallway, his body dragging under the weight of this news.

"That's it!?" Cyborg yelled. "Aren't you going to argue for her to stay or something!? She's your friend!"

"...That's why I'm not arguing." He slowly disappeared into the hall like a shadow in the night.

Myand'r turned to the two stunned, downtrodden Titans before him. He smiled brightly. "Anyone up for the 'B-ball'?"

  


~~

  


That night, Robin found himself reclining on the rooftop next to the outdoor pool, staring into the sky. San Francisco's smog and lights made it difficult to see the stars, but a few managed to break through the distracting lights and the pollution. Robin identified each star from memory, and wondered how many of those stars had alien girls like Starfire living around them. He decided that none of them did -- Starfire was unique on a universal scale. He sighed in lament.

"Robin?" said a gentle voice. Starfire walked over to the poolside seats and took the one next to him. She leaned back and stared into the sky as well. It was silent and tense for a moment.

"How many of those stars have you been too?" Robin asked. "Or is it hard to tell from down here?"

Starfire looked carefully at the sky, then pointed at a star in the eastern quarter. "I went to that one, right before I landed on Earth. I believe I had to do the 'pitstop' there." She looked again, and pointed at one a bit north of the previous star. "And there, I stopped to absorb sunlight so that I would not be tired when I landed."

"It's too bad I can't see Tamaran from here," Robin said. "At least then, I could look at your home and remember our time together."

Another tense silence. Starfire found it difficult to choose her words, since this might be the last time she and Robin ever spoke face-to-face. She wanted her last words to be extra special. 

"Robin, I... I wish you could go with me."

"That'd be even worse," he said. "Because then I'd have to watch you get married to some guy I don't even know."

Starfire couldn't help it. Tears fell across her cheeks as her feelings got the best of her. She jumped onto Robin's chair and hugged him fiercely. "Oh Robin, I do not wish to leave! I want to stay here with my friends! With... you."

The young man hugged her back, despite how awkward he felt. Being emotional wasn't one of his talents. "Me too, Star. Me too."

"There are so many things I've wanted to do - wanted to see - since I've come here." Starfire sat up and looked at Robin's face through teary eyes. "I've been so happy here. I don't want our friendship to end."

Robin delicately put a hand on Starfire's damp cheek. His touch felt so cold because of his glove, and yet so warm because of the feeling behind it.

"Just because you're going back home, doesn't mean our friendship has to end. Someday, we'll see each other again."

Starfire grabbed his hand with her own and closed her eyes. She tried to preserve the warmth in his hand in her memory. "Even so, things would not be the same. The [Rakmah] - 'the Drifting' - will occur. And I do not want to drift away from you."

Robin knew how true that was. If she left, their friendship would change forever. Not to mention that marriage would vastly change their relationship.

"I propose a bonding moment," Starfire said, in a slightly brighter tone. "Let us make a fond memory together, so that we will never forget each other."

Robin turned red slightly. "...What are you suggesting?" The word 'bonding' conjured up images that are probably best left undescribed. Starfire blushed a bit, reasserting Robin's naughty imagery. This could get complicated.

"Since I have become a Teen Titan, I have had one secret wish that I have been unable to ask, until now." Starfire looked fondly at the Boy Wonder, who was starting to sweat nervously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"...Your eyes," Starfire said shyly. "I have wanted to see your eyes, just once."

Robin frowned. "You want me to take off my mask?"

His reaction sent Starfire scrambling to the opposite side of her chair, frantically apologizing in one long breathe. "Of course, I understand if you do not comply. Your identity is a secret, and your mask is a symbol of your leadership and your abilities as a warrior. It is rude of me to ask, and I am sorry."

Starfire heard rustling behind her, and slowly turned around. Robin reached up towards his mask and slid his fingers along an imperceptible wire holding it to his face. He bowed and gently lifted the wire over the back of his head. The mask dropped into Robin's lap, his head still bowed and his eyes closed.

"Robin...?" Starfire turned around, her eyes fixated on her friend in anticipation of what she was about to see.

The teen slowly raised his head, and opened his eyes. A pair of bright blue orbs looked back at Starfire, shining with the gentle innocence of a little boy. They were not the eyes of a warrior, but the gentle eyes of an artist or musician. 

Starfire was amazed. His eyes were so different from what she imagined, and so beautiful compared to his gruff personality. And they were so sad, like a puppy dog's eyes.

"Is this what you were expecting?" he said.

"No," Starfire said truthfully. She slowly reached out with two hands and held Robin's cheeks, quietly admiring this strange, yet familiar face. Slowly, Starfire removed her hands and folded them in her lap. She turned away bashfully. "You can put your mask back on now."

"Not yet," he said. "I'll leave it off until I get my wish."

Robin stood up and held out his hand. Starfire took it and stood up as well, unsure of what was about to happen, but tingling nonetheless. Starfire stood a few inches taller than the Boy Wonder, but her eyes were fixed on his. Robin rarely stood this close to her... it felt good to be near him, she realized.

"Close your eyes," he said faintly. "And promise to remember our friendship."

Starfire closed her eyes, and whispered a response. "...I will."

They kissed under the moonlight, gently and fondly. Neither knew how long the kiss really lasted. Because to them, it felt like it lasted forever.

  


~~

  


Starfire left the next morning with her father. Her goodbyes were quick, because she knew she wouldn't be able to leave if she spent too much time crying. Myand'r said a grateful farewell and told the Titans how proud he was to know that Earth had heroes like them. The Tamarans flew towards the sky, with Starfire tearfully looking over her shoulder.

"...There she goes," Raven said, as cold-sounding as ever. She closed her eyes, which were obscured by the shadow of her hood. "Never to return."

"She'll come back," Beast Boy insisted. "She has too! No way Star will be satisfied as a housewife - even a royal one."

"She's saving her people the only way she can," Cyborg said strongly. "We would've done the same if we were in her shoes."

Beast Boy frowned. "Yeah, I guess so. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the people. That's what being a hero is all about."

Robin left without saying a word. The others thought they should say something to console the one closest to Starfire, but none of them could think of a good thing to say. It's hard to console someone else when you are sad yourself. The remaining Titans dispersed in search of something - anything - that could take their mind off of what just happened. 

Robin made his way to his personal chambers, where he kept all of his Slade memorabilia and newspaper clippings. He locked the door with the keypad, walked slowly to his work bench, and stared at it. His anger rose to the surface, and he slammed the desk with a ferocious yell. The junk cluttering it fell to the ground. Robin sank to his knees, and his face fell into his folded arms. He didn't want this to happen, but you couldn't fight politics and tradition with brute force. And that was all he had.

A viewscreen on the wall activated as a call came in. A familiar face appeared on the screen - a face covered by a dark mask and a grim exterior. 

Robin groaned. Of all the times _he_ would call. "...What is it," he muttered without looking up.

_"I'm too late, it seems. The girl has already left."_

Robin looked up, now curious. "You mean Starfire? You knew she was leaving?"

_"Gather your friends,"_ Batman ordered. _"There's trouble in the Vegan system. And your friend is falling into a trap."_

  


**TO BE CONTINUED...**

  



	2. Act II: The Pawn

****

Prince Charming - Part II

The Watchtower - the most advanced surveillance space station ever developed in the vicinity of the planet Earth. The station served as the home base of the Justice League, the most powerful and well-known team of costumed superheroes in the galaxy. The station revolved around Earth, the most wonderful planet to ever grace the solar system. And the Teen Titans were allowed to go to this station for the most undesired reason - to find out why Starfire's proposed marriage is somehow bad for her solar system, and probably Earth's too if the Justice League was involved.

_"Javelin 5, you are cleared for docking,"_ said an automated computer voice speaking to the ship via radio. The Javelin ships ferried people to and from the Watchtower on a regular basis. So much so that the Javelins were programmed for simple pick-ups, so that a superhero didn't have to waste time piloting the craft when they could be somewhere saving people's lives.

The Javelin finished its docking sequence without difficulty. The bay doors closed as the spaceship parked itself amidst a bunch of other Javelins, and the room refilled its oxygen supply. 

The four Titans met outside the vessel, with Robin being the last to leave the ship. The other three were already outside admiring the other ships in the bay. Although all were Javelin model vessels, they each had a special design modification that made them each unique and invaluable in specific situations.

_Some of his handiwork_, Robin noted. His 'teacher' was a genius when it came to vehicular engineering. Combining his knowledge of reverse engineering with alien technology was a definite recipe for success.

"Where's the welcoming party?" Beast Boy said. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Hel~lo! The Teen Titans are in the ho~use!"

In the blink of an eye, the Flash was standing right beside the green mutant. "Easy on the hip hop references, junior."

"WAH!" Beast Boy collapsed, his heart nearly leaping from his chest from the sudden surprise. He popped back up, making a quick recovery. "Dude! You... you're the Flash! THE Flash!"

"The one and only," the red-suited hero said. Flash was always a ham when it came to personal glory. "Well, at least in this hero team. There's a lot of wannabes out there trying to be like me. But you can't copy the best."

"Word." The cocky heroes bopped fists.

Flash turned his attention to the Titans' leader, who waited impatiently for the exchange to end. "Hey Robin, what's up? You've grown. The way Batman talks about you, I expected you to be less imposing."

Robin frowned. "Where is he?"

"He's waiting for you in the crow's nest." Flash zipped across the room to the elevator and pushed the button for the appropriate floor. The doors slid open, and he bowed like a butler. "Right this way."

The Titans entered the elevator, while the Flash remained outside. Beast Boy spoke up. "Hey, aren't you coming with us?"

"Naw, I've got business on Earth. Gonna help clear the rubble from an earthquake zone. Much faster if I do it. But hey, let's hang out when you get back."

Beast Boy's eyes lit up. "Really, you mean it!? I'm _so_ gonna hold you to that!"

"You bet. Later!" Flash shot into the same Javelin they'd used, and the elevator doors closed. They rose to the top floor towards the central control room. Robin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his mood still worse than normal.

When they reached the 'crow's nest', the Titans walked across a massive drawbridge that led to the central meeting area. Several display monitors flashed different windows of information relating to off-world anomalies, communications, and general activity. The same was being done for Earth on different monitors, with even more information flashing at intervals. The data seemed to be glorified screensavers.

Robin and the others stopped in the center of the circular central area. Beast Boy continued a few steps forward and turned the only chair that had its back to them. He found the chair empty.

"I guess he's not here," Cyborg said. "My sensors pick up nobody except us. Maybe Flash was mistaken."

Robin turned his head slightly to the left. "He's here. He's just showing off."

"I never show off," a voice boomed. Robin remained cool and detached, while the other Titans jumped in surprise. They looked up towards the voice, and saw a shadowy figure perched amongst the mainframe support bars. He leapt from the beams and gently landed on his feet, barely making a sound. 

The other Titans jumped back, unsure of what Batman was doing. By all accounts, he was insane. He was referred to as a 'part-time' Justice League member for a reason.

Robin remained motionless, his eyes locked with Batman's. The older hero stood up straight, held out his fist, and opened it to reveal a burnt computer chip. He tossed the chip to Robin and walked towards the other Titans. Robin tossed the chip off the edge of the central area in disgust.

"Whoa," Beast Boy whispered. "That was totally cool. I bet I could pull off that look."

"You'd have to be dangerous first," Raven muttered back.

"I _am_ dangerous!" His whispered speech was cut short when Batman came close. The green mutant jumped behind Raven and turned into a monkey before cowering beneath the edge of her robe. Raven sighed.

"Let's get this over with," Robin declared. "You said that Starfire was in trouble. Tell us what the situation is and we'll go to Tamaran to save her."

"It's not that simple." Batman took a seat at one of the consoles and started typing rapidly, bringing up several windows of information relating to the mission. A window flashed by with a picture of Starfire and a list of information relating to her alien nature. Another window showed Tamaran, its moons and neighboring planets, and a summary of its evolutionary status as a planet. Finally, a window of the entire Vegan star system appeared, with all the planets and their allegiances color-coded into the map.

"You've got some major data in here," Cyborg said. "No way this is government-sponsored."

"We use a retrofitted Brainiac information pod as the basis for our Watchtower database." While Cyborg's head spun, Batman brought up a counter-window showing a Tamaran who looked very similar to Starfire. The two Tamaran images and their corresponding data were displayed side by side.

"Blackfire," Beast Boy said. "Star's big sister."

"Is she the one causing the trouble?" Cyborg added. "I thought she was in a Centaurian prison somewhere."

"She escaped shortly after she was captured," Batman said. "It seems she's allied with a group of aliens called the Psions, who helped her escape from a high security prison-moon before her sentence of personality reengineering could be carried out."

"Nothing like a little brainwashing to help our juvenile delinquents."

"We've intercepted transmissions between Prince Karras' private communicator and an off-world source." Batman uploaded one of these transmissions. Two people - one male, one female - were talking in the Tamaranean language. The female voice was definitely Blackfire; even in an alien language, she sounded brazen and easy-going.

"So this Karras is the guy Star is supposed to marry," Beast Boy said. "And he's plotting something with Blackfire?"

"It's an assassination attempt," Batman said. "Blackfire intends to use her mutant powers to crush the nobility in one attack, in exchange for the recognition of her birthright as the 'rightful' princess, which she lost to Starfire due to a birth defect."

"Birth defect?"

Batman glanced at Beast Boy. "She couldn't fly, making her a handicapped Tamaran and therefore unfit to rule."

"We saw her fly many times," Raven noted.

"At birth, Blackfire was born with a damaged photosynthetic system, making her unable to fly and physically weaker than other Tamaran. But the same experiment that gave your friend her thermonuclear powers also superseded Blackfire's weaknesses."

"...Experiment? Starfire was part of an experiment?"

Robin shook his head. "It's better if you not ask. It's... pretty bad."

Raven glowered, summarizing the general 'bad'-ness of her entire existence. "How bad can it be?"

Robin glared back. "Bad." The mystic frowned. She had no doubts about Robin's understanding of 'bad', but how bad could a bubble-headed alien's past be?

"The royal families refused to give Blackfire back her birthright," Batman continued. "They felt she was still handicapped mentally, if not physically."

"I'd be pissed off if people kept calling me handicapped for no reason," Beast Boy said. "Maybe that's why she seems like a bad guy."

Robin thought about what all this meant. "A wedding of this political magnitude would have the nobility of the entire planet in one place. These people have low technology and have strong traditional beliefs, so they wouldn't think to watch the wedding by camera."

"If Blackfire succeeded, then the planet could be in serious trouble," Cyborg added. "The entire planet would lose its leadership in one attack... except for Karras himself, who'd probably miraculously survive and assume leadership of Tamaran."

"You catch on quick," Batman said. "Civil war and political tradition has kept the planet from destroying the rest of the system. If Tamaran were ruled by Karras and Blackfire, they would quickly conquer the Vegan star system, and possibly the rest of the galaxy."

"So we have a dictator-in-training trying to use Starfire and her sister to take over the planet, and maybe even conquer the universe," Raven said in summary. "Just great."

"Can't we just call off the wedding?" Cyborg suggested. "If you can intercept transmissions from here, then you can surely tell Star's dad that the Prince is up to no good."

"The communication systems on Tamaran are primitive; they can't reach outside of their solar system. The Tamarans can fly between galaxies and thrive in space environments naturally, and their bodies draw strength and nourishment from sunlight like plants. They don't need technology to survive, so they've developed at a much slower pace compared to other species."

"Which means that our friend Karras is the only one with a communicator we could contact. Perfect."

"We have to go there and tell them ourselves," Robin said. "But by the time we reach Tamaran, it might be too late. Even with faster-than-light travel, it could take days. The wedding begins in less than a week."

"And Blackfire will probably try to stop us," Raven added. "She'd definitely have the advantage if she found us in space."

"The only one who could face her is Starfire. And she's not with us now. It's all so perfectly set up. It's like Karras and Blackfire are leaving nothing to chance."

"They are children," Batman said. "Powerful, but inexperienced. They couldn't have orchestrated a plan of this scale on their own. A bigger power is working behind them."

"Who?"

"That's what you'll have to find out," Batman said, turning his seat around and standing up. "The Justice League can't enter the Vegan system because of our ties to the galaxy's super-governments. Vega is a war zone with limited technology, so outside forces can't interfere."

"I thought that was just a Star Trek thing?" Beast Boy said, showing off his knowledge of all things pointless on television. "You mean aliens actually have rules like that?" Raven put a finger on his lips before he said anything else stupid.

Cyborg frowned at where this was leading. "So you want us to go there ourselves, into a place where even the Justice League isn't allowed to go? And hope nobody tries to stop us?"

"The Teen Titans aren't under constant surveillance. Using one of our disguised ships, you should be able to reach Tamaran without anyone trying to stop you. But once you enter Vegan space, you're on your own. And it's a very dangerous place for the inexperienced."

Robin took that comment personally. "We're _not_ inexperienced. We may not be able to police the galaxy, but we're just as good as you are."

Batman's eyes thinned. He stared at his young apprentice, who remained stalwart in his conviction. The other Teen Titans, however, didn't look as confident as Robin. They didn't think they were even close to the Justice League's level.

"...You will use the Longinus," Batman said eventually. "It's an alien ship retrofitted with some of our technology."

"Fine."

Batman walked past the collected Titans and stopped by Robin's side. Neither of them turned.

"Good luck," the older hero said, before continuing across the bridge to the elevator.

Robin looked up at the others after a moment of silent reflection. "Let's go. Starfire needs us." The others nodded in agreement.

~~

Starfire looked at herself in the reflective surface of a water column in the garden of her father's palace. She was dressed in the garb of a Tamaran princess - a look she thought she'd never have to get used to. The gown was violet, much darker than her normal wardrobe, and intended to accentuate the elegance she was supposed to have. She felt awkward wearing it, since the skirt was too long and bulky for her to fly in. She felt like she was literally wearing a parachute.

"You look lovely," said Karras as he landed gently behind her. Starfire spun around, thinking it was Robin coming to play with her. It took her a moment to remember that her friends weren't with her anymore. She was alone, just like when she was a child growing up here.

Starfire looked down shyly. Karras was a stranger who treated her like they'd grown up together and fallen in love. It was his way of acclimating her to the idea of getting married, but all it did was make Starfire feel worse. She didn't like strangers to flirt with her.

"You are so quiet," Karras said as he walked towards her, his black Spartan uniform contrasting greatly with her own getup. "Your father always told me you were such an energetic girl."

"I am sorry," she replied softly. "I am just... thinking about my friends. I miss them already."

"It is I who should be apologizing," Karras admitted. "The decision for us to marry was decided very suddenly, and the marriage itself will occur very soon too. This is all happening so fast, and it must be difficult for you."

"I do not like what is happening," Starfire said without malice. "But I do want to help my father, and my people. Even if it means doing something like this."

Karras smiled gently. "I must admit, I was excited by this idea. I have often admired you from afar. Your father's stories of your activities on Earth have always entertained me."

"Your people are raised as warriors. I am not surprised my battles amuse you." Starfire said this with some disdain. While the southern continent valued strength in combat, the northern combat emphasized strength of mind. This often made it difficult for the two peoples to agree on things.

"I know our marriage is only political." Karras looked down as he spoke, as if it were his turn to be bashful. "But I would like to be your friend as well. Please Koriand'r, let me earn your trust."

Starfire wanted to dislike him, because doing so would make disliking this whole situation easier. But Karras had a gentle personality so unlike what a warrior was supposed to have. He was just like Robin... sort of.

"I would like that," she said with a smile.

Karras hid his amusement. It wouldn't be long before Starfire was pudding in his hands. With her as his 'friend', nobody would be able to stop him from achieving his destiny. He and Blackfire would rule the universe.

~~

The Longinus launched from port quickly, thanks to the anxiety each of the Titans felt for their friend Starfire. In record time, they cleared the dock and flew away from the Watchtower and Earth's orbit. Robin and Cyborg piloted their way out of the vicinity of the solar system and activated the navigation computer. It searched for a route through the galaxy that wouldn't result in their ship crashing into a larger gravitational field during flight.

"Navigational computer, tracking possible vectors," Cyborg said as he prepared the ship for FTL _(faster-than-light)_ travel. It involved raising the subatomic deflector shields and reducing the ship's internal pressure in compensation for the speed. Basically, Cyborg was pushing a _lot_ of buttons.

"Will I need to sit down for this?" Beast Boy asked as he watched over Cy's shoulder.

"We're going about half the speed of light right now. So why bother?"

"Good point." Beast Boy sat down at the sensor station anyway. He raised his finger to try out one of the buttons, but Raven caught with her mental powers. She wasn't even looking up from her book across the room. Beast Boy stuck his tongue at her, and her mental powers "flicked" him hard in the nose.

"You doing alright, bro?" Cyborg asked his co-pilot. Robin was silent ever since the conversation in the Watchtower. His expression was grim and thoughtful.

"I'm worried about what he said," Robin admitted. "That there's someone working behind Blackfire and the prince. I'm worried that Starfire is in real danger."

"I wouldn't worry about Star. She can bench press me for an hour and still sing one of her folk songs." Cyborg smiled at the mental image that conjured up. Robin wasn't amused.

"It's not that. Starfire is... trusting," Robin said. "Someone could take advantage of her and put her in a situation where she couldn't defend herself."

Cyborg glanced at the navigational computer; it was still clicking away, searching for possible routes. Tamaran was very far away, so the navigation would probably take a while to finish. Cyborg turned his chair to face Robin. "Do you know anything about that 'experiment' Batman was talking about?"

Robin froze for a second, then finished prepping the ship with a few button pushes. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah."

"Is it a touchy subject? I'm curious about Star's past, but I don't want to-"

"It's okay. Star confides in me, but she doesn't like keeping secrets. She was hoping to tell you guys one day, when the moment presented itself. A story like this isn't something you just drop on the table one morning."

Robin took a deep breath to calm his nerves, then began. "Eight years ago, Tamaran was invaded by a race called the Psions. These guys were nasty aliens that fought using genetic engineering and advanced technology. They conquered Tamaran with ease, and declared to the rulers of the planet that they would be spared only if their heirs were handed over as sacrifices. Otherwise, the Psion spacecraft would vaporize the planet and everyone on it."

"God... these Vegans really _are _dangerous. What'd they do?"

"They did the only thing they could do. Myand'r handed over his daughters. Star was only seven years old at the time."

Robin let that sink in before he continued. "For the first year, Star and Blackfire were in experiments performed by the Psion's chief scientists. They were looking for the ultimate bioengineered weapon. They knew that Tamaran genes were very strong, but they wanted to find out the limits of their genetic abilities. So they forced the girls to submit to strenuous living regiments every day, and forced them to bear scorching levels of sunlight that would burn human skin as well. It was torture, to put it mildly."

Cyborg could only imagine what it would feel like to undergo that kind of torture for a year. "So, this 'mutation' of theirs, is because of all that."

"Yeah. The Psions managed to evolve the Tamaran gene to its next level. Once Star and her sister were through the experimental process, they were forced to survive as Psion slave-warriors for five years." Robin paused sadly. "During this time, Star... suffered a lot."

A young girl in an army of soldiers. Cyborg knew what he was inferring. "...It must've been Hell."

"About two years ago, Star and her sister escaped when their slave rings were destroyed in battle. If they'd tried to escape without removing them, they would have died. They managed to flee to their home planet, which was fully recovered from Psion's invasion and could defend itself now. Needless to say, they were happy."

"Star came to Earth about a year ago, right? So this wasn't too long ago."

"Yeah. Star says her father sent her to Earth because our galaxy is a lot safer for a Tamaran girl when compared to the Vegan system. And even with everything that's happened to us the past year, I'd have to agree."

Cyborg smiled gently. "Even after all that, Starfire is such a caring, sweet girl. It defies the laws of conventional psychology."

"Star's people are extremely emotional. So keeping her mind on the positive side of life does wonders for her. I'm glad she can be happy on Earth, with all of us. And I want to keep it that way."

"So we've got to go get her back so she can get back to doing what she does best. Having fun!"

Robin smiled and slapped hands with Cyborg. "You read my mind!"

The navigation computer beeped as it completed its tracking program. It chose the best route through the galaxy's many obstacles and the shortest distance to the Vegan star system. The ETA _(estimated time of arrival)_ was five days... assuming they didn't stop or get into trouble.

"Alright, let's get this bucket of bolts moving!" Cyborg whooped. "FTL, online!"

Robin's hand was on the throttle as he waited for the engine to power up. "Ready, steady, GO!" He pulled back on the throttle, and the engine roared to life. The Longinus slipped into hyperspeed and zoomed out of the solar system, leaving nothing but a twinkle of light behind.

~~

_*krsh* ... [?] ... "They are coming."_

*krsh* [Blackfire] "My old friends. I knew they couldn't resist. Who cares about intergalactic law when poor whittle Starfire is at stake?"

*krsh* [Karras] "They're mere humans. They are no match for us."

*krsh* ... [?] ... "Do not underestimate their abilities. And especially be careful of their leader. His training is comparable to your own, Karras."

*krsh* [Blackfire] "Yes, Robin is quite_ a guy. Jealous, Karrie? After all, he _is_ Starfire's favorite."_

*krsh* [Karras] "Enough! What is the plan?"

*krsh* ... [?]... "Our sentinels will plot an intercept course. You will continue as planned. Make sure the marriage occurs as scheduled."

*krsh* [Karras] "Koriand'r is behaving as expected. Soon, she will trust me completely."

*krsh* [Blackfire] "Good ol' baby sister."

** End Transmission. **

~~

"Man, this is _so_ boring!" Beast Boy whined. "I can't believe I forgot my stuff! What am I going to do for two weeks without my Gameboy! Or my magazines!"

"Quit complaining," Raven chided without looking up from her book.

"Some of us can't summon junk from the netherworld whenever we feel like it." Beast Boy crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "You don't even have to wash the dishes or clean your room with your hands. I wish I had magical powers."

"Magic isn't easy to learn."

Beast Boy smiled slightly. "I bet I could do magic _way_ better than you."

Raven's eyes tilted up from her book with a loud _creak_. "...What?"

Poor, predictable Raven. She couldn't turn down a challenge like that. Beast Boy had his entertainment for the next few hours. "I bet you a _million_ dollars, that I can do magic better than you."

Raven closed her book and made it disappear with a thought. "What makes you think you can do _anything_ better than me?"

"I'm naturally talented in many ways," Beast Boy said, emphasizing the egotistical statement so that Raven would think he was serious. "There's no doubt in my mind that magic would come to a gifted child like me with ease."

Raven's eyes could pierce adamantium. Beast Boy smiled back calmly, which he knew would irritate her more. 

"Sit," she commanded. Beast Boy plopped down, and Raven started teaching him a simple cantrip to prove her point. The green mutant smiled inwardly. Raven was always fun to play with. Especially when she didn't know she was being played. Unfortunately, his fun would be cut short by an alarm filling the ship's interior. The pair glanced at each other, then raced to the front of the ship.

"Trouble!" Robin warned. "Unidentified ships are closing in on us. And their prepped for battle."

"They've got Level 2 deflector shields and variable frequency hyper-laser turrets. And there's more than a dozen of them, all of 'em faster than us."

Beast Boy gulped nervously. "Yeah, that sounds like 'Trouble.'"

"What do we have?" Raven asked.

"Not much. Level 1 deflector shields and a pulse cannon. Good for blasting meteors, but not good for shooting at swarms."

"Incoming!" Cyborg shouted too late. The Longinus rocked as a series of laser blasts slammed into the ship's defenses. The navigational computer adjusted to the resulting shift in the ship's direction automatically. Fighting in hyperspeed made even the smallest hits extremely dangerous. That laser blast knocked them a light year off course and could have sent them crashing into a planetoid.

Robin switched the view screen to a tactical display for easier reference. "Cyborg, get that cannon primed!"

"What for? It couldn't hit these guys in a million years!"

"We've gotta fight back somehow!" Robin growled as another shot rocked the Longinus.

Raven closed her eyes. "Let me try." She folded her arms, like a genie waiting to grant a wish. She started to murmur her famous magic words, and her body started to crackle with power. In moments, a pair of glowing black wings flowed from her body and seemed to extend from her back like the wings of a demon. These wings floated out, revealing more of what appeared to be a giant, spiritual bird with four red eyes. Raven arched her back and let out a powerful gasp, and the bird cawed mightily as it erupted from her body with an audible _snap_. The spirit flowed through the ship's hull, the metal crackling with red lightning at any point the bird touched. Soon, it was flying over the ship at a speed faster than light, ready to do battle with the mechanized enemies.

"How's that thing moving as fast as we are?" Cyborg wondered. "It defies the laws of physics."

"So does a bird with four eyes that can move through metal," Beast Boy reminded him as he watched in awe.

"Right now, it's all we've got," Robin said. He played the guidance controls like a piano as he dodged the enemy attacks. "Let's go!"  
The raven spirit flapped its wings and caught some imaginary wind, slowing it down enough for two missile-shaped ships to fly right past it. The raven resumed its original flight speed, and flashed its eyes red as its master called upon her magical powers. The bird chopped its wings forward like a massive pincer and launched a wave of red light that sliced through the two ships instantly. The Longinus dodged to the side as they exploded.

Raven clenched her teeth as she struggled with her magic. "Azorath... metrion... synthos... Azorath... metrion... synthos..."

"Spiral pattern, eleven o' clock!" Cyborg warned. Robin saw three ships through the tactical display, spinning around each other in a helix pattern to confuse Robin. He dove in a downwards direction, diving just under the southern pole of a dead planet as large as Earth, and narrowly flew between all three attackers as they swooped by at even higher speed. One of the ships crashed into the dead planet, obliterating it with the inertial force of something moving faster than light. It was like a focused black hole, completely destroying the planet itself. The remaining ships changed course and resumed the chase.

"This is insane!" Robin shouted.

"We're approaching an inhabited sector!" Cyborg warned. "At this speed, we'll be there in less than a minute! Raven, hurry up!"

"Azorath... metrion..." Raven panted for breath as her Soul Self continued its rampage, taking out two more ships with a fly-by slicing. Raven's knees buckled, but Beast Boy caught her before she fell. Raven muttered continuously, on the verge of incoherence, but she pressed on. Beast Boy held her tightly, hoping that his soul could support hers if he wished for it hard enough.

"Raven can't keep this up much longer. We've got to ditch these guys somehow," Robin said as he analyzed the navigational maps on a smaller scale. "There's an asteroid belt up ahead that we can use."

"You can't fly in there," Cyborg snapped. "You may be a bird, but you ain't a pilot. The turns in there are too difficult."

"Maybe I can't. But you can."

Cyborg blinked. "What!?"

"Between your reflexive sensor array and your hours of practice with those Star Fox games, you could navigate the asteroid belt no matter how tight the turns."

Cyborg smiled confidently. "Maybe. But the odds are against us, and the situation is grim."

Robin smiled back. "Then what've we got to lose?" He stood up and offered the seat to his fellow Titan.

The mechanical athlete eagerly took the chair. "Alright! Here goes nothing!" He switched the screen to pure visual, which showed stars and space debris wizzing by at breakneck speed like something out of a Sonic game. Cyborg's red eye glowed as it primed for action, and the Titan went to work.

Raven scream as her power gave out, and her head jerked back as her Soul Self was forcibly returned to its perch inside her mind. Beast Boy cradled her as she lost all her strength, and fainted. She'd given it everything she had, but came up short. Now, it was all up to Cy.

The Titans just prayed it was enough.

~~

Starfire shivered. Karras looked up from the card game of Kijam they were playing. "Are you alright, my dear?"

"I just felt a strange chill," she replied in her home language. She looked towards the bright, sunny sky, wondering how she could shiver with such a warm day surrounding her. "Perhaps someone is in trouble."

"The old superstition of the 'warning chill'," Karras laughed, friendly and charming as ever. "Do not worry. No danger will come to you or your loved ones, especially during the time of fasting."

Starfire looked down sadly at the cards in her hand. "...Not all of my friends are on Tamaran."

Karras put his cards down and placed a hand on Star's. She looked down at it with surprise, then at him as he smiled warmly. "Please understand something, Kori. I've loved you ever since we were children in the royal court. You may not treasure those childhood memories like I do, but I can assure you that my heart is filled with fond memories of you."

Starfire never imagined that was the case. She remembered seeing young Karras on several occasions in her youth, before their kingdoms were plunged into war. And she remembered feeling happy any time they were together. "K...Karras..."

The prince removed the cards from her hand and tossed them aside. "If your heart belongs elsewhere, please... leave this place."

Starfire gawked in surprise. She couldn't believe she was hearing this. "But, what about the wedding? I thought it was very important?"

"It is... to me," Karras said with a heavy heart. "It would certainly bring peace to our planet, but I am ashamed to say that is my secondary motive." He turned and faced Starfire, with eyes that screamed 'Love'. Star's face turned red at seeing such a fond look in the eyes of someone who she barely knew. "You are truly beautiful in all ways that matter. Any man would give his life to marry a woman like you."

Starfire's blush worsened. "I... I had no idea you had such strong feelings." She didn't know how to say that her feelings were much less intense than his own. The thought of breaking his heart like that was hard for Starfire to ignore. It was in her nature to do her best to make others happy.

"But if you wish, you may leave and return home to your friends." Karras bowed slightly. "I will convince your father to find another way to end the war."

"Is there another way?"

"...I don't know." He looked up again, with the same deep-hearted look as before. "I do not believe there is. But I'd rather continue this war than force a free spirit like yours to stay here against your will."

Starfire clenched her eyes shut. "Karras, please don't say things like that. I... I wish this were easy for me too. But I... I have so many things on Earth that I cannot forget. So many things that keep my mind off of Tamaran."

Karras sighed gently. "I understand. If that is how you truly feel, then you are free to go. Go home to your friends."

The alien girl looked at the sky with the intention of jumping and flying away. But a part of her held her feet on the ground. The part of her that wanted to protect Tamaran refused to let her simply jump and fly back to her friends. She was torn between two loves - the love of her home and its people, and her love of her friends and Robin. She was being pulled in two directions with such intense force, it threatened to tear her apart.

She clenched her teeth. She didn't know what to do!

"SIR!" A centurian flew from the direction of the palace and landed before running to where Karras was standing. Starfire turned around to see what they were saying. From Karras' expression, she could tell it was bad news.

"What is it?" She landed beside him once the centurian left. "Karras?"

The prince turned, but couldn't bring himself to look at the princess. "We've received word that... a ship from Earth has just been destroyed by one of our enemies, the Gordinians."

[_Image of Cyborg dodging the Longinus through asteroids a'plenty. The drones are keeping up with him with impressive acrobatics of their own. Beast Boy is holding Raven and looking around with a worried look. Robin looks at the screen with a look of dread.]_

Starfire gasped and covered her mouth. "Earth?" Her eyes asked the question that she was too afraid to ask.

"Our space scouts saw a giant earth bird - a 'raven' - flying astride this vessel before its destruction."

"NO!" Starfire screamed. Her friends had come for her! Why! Her dearest wish to see them again had turned into the greatest curse the galaxy could give her! Starfire sank to her knees. All of her friends, gone, just like that. Why had the great spirits done this? As if taking her away from her friends wasn't bad enough...

Karras kneeled down and put his arms around the weeping princess. "I am truly sorry. This tragedy is beyond comprehension."

"It is all my fault," Starfire whispered bitterly, tears falling through her fingers. "If I hadn't... If I'd done something to make them forget me, they would never have come after me. I dreamed of them following me - I'd even prayed that they would! Now..." Starfire's sentence trailed off into fitful gasps of sorrow as she buried her face into Karras' chest.

The prince held her tightly, a fiendish grin on his face as he whispered words of honey. "Do not blame yourself."

Starfire's fingers clutched tightly to Karras, seeking solace from his warmth. "...How could I have thought to go against Tamaran's wishes? He... they... gone forever."

[_Image of the Longinus taking another heavy hit and bouncing off of the side of an asteroid as a result. The ship survives, thanks to its shields, but the ship is within a few hits of being crippled entirely. Cyborg and Robin looked at each other, and both had the same thought. This was it.]_

Karras remained silent as Starfire wept for her beloved friends. But as he expected, her strength of purpose helped her recover her senses quickly. "... I know what I must do, now."

"What is that, my love?" he asked. But thanks to the diabolic plotting of his fellow conspirators, he already knew what the answer would be. Starfire's personality was so easy to control, and equally easy to predict.

Starfire slowly looked up, her eyes firm and brave, even when filled with tears. "I will do what I came here to do. Fate, it seems, has decided that for me. Just as it did when it brought me to Earth in the first place."

Karras nodded gently. "I will do everything to support you, Koriand'r. I just want you, and our people, to be happy."

The princess buried her head in Karras' chest again, her heart trembling from the sheer pain of loss she felt. She would never be happy again - the only boy she'd ever felt a true, pure bond with, was now gone. As had happened many times before in her young life, Starfire was forced to cope with the fact that horrible things happened in the universe every day - even to those who did their best to do what was right and good.

_[Image of the Longinus being attacked by a final hail of hyper-light sprays, which destroy the last of the ship's defenses. The Longinus explodes in a fiery flash of light, totally silent in the vacuum of space. The drones destroy the remaining debris, leaving nothing but hundreds of handfuls of metal and dust. The Longinus was no more.]_

****

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Act III: Knight's Gambit

****

Prince Charming - Part III

Starfire tossed and turned all night. She tried to sleep while hovering unconsciously in mid-air, resting in the normal manner for Tamarans while on their homeworld. But no matter which way she turned, she could not get comfortable in the cushion of air beneath her. Her mind was troubled, and it prevented her from relaxing. Starfire knew in her heart that she would have many nights like this. She knew that it was possible to forget the pain of loss and grief. But she could not imagine ever getting used to this loss.

Her mind conjured up images from the past. Starfire was in the park, enjoying a beautiful summer day. The sun showered her and the other people with cleansing light. Children frolicked in the grass, playing all kinds of sports and silly games with nonsensical rules. Fathers and mothers watched their children play, like any cautious parent would, while still enjoying the sculpted natural setting with their friends and loved ones. Single adults used the beauty as an excuse to meet others like them in their search for companionship. Starfire watched this all from the safety of a tree, where she rested against the trunk, obscured by a cloud of green leaves.

_"Robin?"_ she asked in her dream. _"Why are the leaves so green here?"_

The other teenager sat on another limb, on the opposite side of the trunk, his back also leaning against it. His arms were folded behind his head as he relaxed in the soft breeze that made the leaves sway back and forth.

_"It's because of something called 'chlorophyll'. The sunlight gives the tree strength, and the leaves use their chlorophyll to change that strength into all the things the tree needs to live and grow."_

Starfire cocked her head. _"I see. Then, it is like myself. But... I do not turn green."_

_"You don't have chlorophyll. You have something else."_

_"...Oh."_ Starfire didn't question Robin's knowledge of earth science, or his knowledge of her own body. He'd studied many things about many different kinds of people in his quests as a superhero. His knowledge matched that of any scholar on her world, and his physical abilities were greater than even a Tamaran centurion. Even though humans were much weaker than Tamarans.

_"I sent a letter to my father today,"_ Starfire said, not wishing to break conversation yet. _"I told him of your battle against the Two-Face in Gotham City. I believe he will be as amazed as I at your accomplishment."_

_"Compared to your fight with Junior Cell, it's nothing big,"_ Robin said casually.

That was so like him, Starfire remembered fondly as she dreamed. Robin could be confident and even a little cocky at times, but he was quick to point out the strengths of those around him first. Raven explained the reason for this when Starfire tried to discern Cyborg and Robin's natures, shortly after they fought and Cyborg left the team for a short time.

_"Cyborg's an athlete. His strength is the proof that he exists, and he's always comparing himself to others. That can hurt his pride if he loses a battle," _Raven had said on that day, far in the past. _"Robin's a soldier. His strength is a means to an end - the end being the protection of what he believes in. And like a true soldier, he won't celebrate his accomplishment. Because it isn't as important as that which he protects - the things he loves."_

Slade said it best when he was tormenting Robin in his lair, shortly after infecting the Titans with nano-viruses. _"All my knowledge, all my power, all for you. Yet all you care about are your worthless, little, FRIENDS!"_

After Raven's explanation, Starfire looked at both Earth boys in a new light. She now viewed Robin as she would any Tamaran war hero - as something to be loved and respected, and followed as an example. Regardless of what direction her life took her, she wanted to follow Robin's example, and protect everything she loved with the gifts Fate had given her.

If she'd known that it would all lead to the present situation, she would never have become a Teen Titan. She would have rather stayed a princess on a war-torn planet, or a slave in the Psion armies.

Starfire burst into tears, as she'd done many times that day in her attempts to reconcile what happened to her fellow Titans. No matter what she told herself, she could not help but think it was her fault that they were dead. They would never have come to Vegan space if it weren't for her. The planet Earth - and the Universe - had lost four beautiful souls because of her. And she'd lost her best friends because of her birthright. No matter how she looked at the situation, it was her fault they were gone.

The alien princess managed to calm herself after a few minutes of tearful morning. Starfire glanced across the royal sleeping chamber at Karras, who lay inches above the ground just like her as he slept. It was customary for married couples and soon-to-be-married adults to sleep together, with their arms entwined around each other as they floated restfully. But Karras respected Starfire's feelings, and slept apart from her. Granted, they were still in the same room, but that was not bothersome. Tamarans were much more communal than Earth people, and considered sleeping with someone nearby a blessing rather than a source of embarrassment or irritation.

Wiping away a few remaining tears, Starfire tried to lie back down to rest. Karras was kind, and surely he would make a good king for Tamaran someday. Starfire's fate seemed to be to help him through the trials and tribulations that came with ruling a planet. She didn't like the idea of being a queen, but she knew what Robin would say if he were there to guide her.

_"Do whatever it takes to help the people of this city,"_ Robin told the Titans, shortly after they were formed. _"It's our duty to help these people live safe and normal lives. We may have to do things that we don't want to do, but that's the price we have to pay. It's worth paying, if it means preserving peace for the generation that follows."_

Tamaran's children would have peace, Starfire decided. They would not have to endure another decade of civil war and interplanetary conquest. And she'd marry Karras to ensure that, if she had to. She did not want to lead this life. But she did not think she could return to Earth without feeling guilty and alone. Tamaran was her home, once again.

_...Goodbye, my friends. Please watch over me in my new life._ Starfire clenched her eyes shut, keeping the tears from falling down her cheeks. She forced herself to sleep and dreamed of beautiful memories that her future could never match.

~~

__

[Image of the Longinus taking another heavy hit and bouncing off of the side of an asteroid as a result. The ship survives, thanks to its shields, but the ship is within a few hits of being crippled entirely. Cyborg and Robin looked at each other, and both had the same thought. This was it.]

"I can't shake 'em!" Cyborg shouted as red lights flashed and screeching alarms blared around them. "Deflector shields down! It's gonna blow!!"

"No!" Beast Boy yelled. He clutched Raven tightly and prepared for the end to come.

Robin watched as a window displayed the tactical position of their attackers, and showed a tiny red blip indicating a swooping enemy. The next hit would destroy the ship and end their lives in a flash. The teen balled up his fists, gritted his teeth, and slammed the nearest dashboard. "It can't end like this!!"

As the blast hit, Robin yelled out Starfire's name. And he saw nothing but a bright flash of white light. It engulfed his vision - his entire body - and carried him up. He felt weightless, like his soul had been drawn from his body with the gentlest of hands and was being carried towards Heaven.

The light faded into a circular lamp in the ceiling. Robin fell to the ground with a _thud_, an _oof_, and a groan. His fellow Titans fell around him, all hitting the steel floor with similar sound effects. None of them dared move or breathe, thinking they were dead. It took them a few moments to realize that they weren't. They were just lying on cold steel in a strange place with white ceiling lamps.

A friendly face peeked over Robin from above him. The face belonged to a Tamaran boy with spiky red hair, big green eyes, and effeminate features that included a cheerful smile. He couldn't have been more than ten years old. 

"Jo! Ov muult moli zua esi emowi."

Robin blinked groggily. "...Come again?"

The face cocked his head, seemingly out of confusion. "Yev?"

Cyborg was the first to sit up. "Unh. I think we've been teleported. And just in the nick of time, too."

"Isn't that a little convenient?" Beast Boy asked as he pulled Robin's cape from his face. 

Raven lay nearby, groaning lightly. The shock of the transport jarred her into semi-consciousness. She kept her eyes closed and tried to calm the migraine pulsing in her head, with limited success. "...Oww."

Robin and the others reluctantly stood up as they took note of their new surroundings. They were in a mechanized room with circles of light at strategic points, and a control panel manned by two alien operatives. One of them was animal-like, having the characteristics of a hippo that could stand upright. The other seemed to be a floating compilation of geometric figures crafted from shiny silver. The most human-looking alien in the room was the Tamaran, who wore sleek body armor and had a giant sword slung to his back. He looked like a child pretending to be a fantasy character in a distinctly non-fantasy world.

"Yimduni vu uas t'vest'joq, [Brigadoon]," said the boy. He said the last word in what sounded like English, with the accent of someone trying to speak English as a secondary language.

"...Brigadoon?" Robin repeated. Looking around briefly, he figured out what the man was trying to imply. Or at least, he thought he figured it out. No way to know if he was right or not. "Must be the ship's name. But... why would the ship be named with an English word?"

"Who knows, who cares," Beast Boy griped. "They're friends, right? Maybe they can help us get to Star before her sis' and this prince dude assassinate everyone."

"Thanks for helping us out back there," Cyborg said, holding a mechanical hand out to the Tamaran. "You really pulled our butts out of the fire."

The Tamaran stared at his hand, then at Cyborg's face, then the hand again. "... 'Cool dude', yes?"

Cyborg's smile widened. "Hey, you speak a little English! Good, that'll make things a whole lot easier!"

The boy simply stared in response, seemingly amazed at the sheer number of English words in that sentence.

"...Maybe not." Cyborg scratched his head, making screeching noises from the metal-to-metal contact. "This could be problematic. Obviously they had a reason to rescue us, but we won't know it unless we figure out how to speak to each other."

"He knows a little english, and a little bit of our ways," Robin noted. "He knew to equate the hand shake and the African American skin with 'cool dude'."

Cyborg sweatdropped. "Wonderful."

"Does that mean he's been to Earth before?" Raven suggested.

"Only one way to find out."

Robin thought for a second, and then tried the simple approach. "Koriand'r?"

The young man nodded intently. "Koriand'r! T'ji ot v'j-!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Robin said quickly. The man stopped. Robin then nodded purposely to indicate his satisfaction with the answer.

Robin patted his own chest. "Robin." He then pointed at the other Titans in turn. "Cyborg. Raven. Beast Boy."

The boy nodded, and patted his own chest. "Ryand'r."

Robin nodded. He was glad they were understanding each other on some level. "...Ryand'r."

Raven looked around, then sighed and shook her head. "Tuss'z vu sat'j v'jot, civ dep yi t'vuq q'mezoph henit epf vem'l ecuav onqus'vep'v v'jopht?" Well before Raven had finished her impossibly confusing sentence, the males in the vicinity were staring at her in utter shock.

Ryand'r recovered his senses enough to respond. "Xit." He nodded many times, and then motioned for the others to follow him. The Titans walked behind the Tamaran as he led the way out of the room into a thin hallway lined with doors marked with alien symbols. Ryand'r took them to the end of the hallway, which led into the ship's bridge. There, several other aliens worked the controls and monitored everything that could be monitored on a spacecraft.

"Okay, I'll bite," Beast Boy said. "How'd you learn to speak Klingon?"

"I can do more than throw rocks and make books disappear," Raven said matter-of-factly. "I can use my empathic abilities to get information from certain people's minds. I borrowed his knowledge of his own language."

Beast Boy smiled. "I was wrong. You _are_ the better magician."

"Told you," she smirked back. The bridge door slid shut behind them.

"Ra-ven," the alien said carefully. He then went into a long sentence in the Tamaran language. Raven answered back with short, concise phrases, as was her usual nature. 

"What did he say?" Robin asked.

"He says that this is the spaceship Brigadoon, and it's part of an anti-Psion terrorist force. He knows Starfire because he was captured in the same invasion that she and Blackfire were enslaved in."

"So he probably hasn't met her personally," Cyborg said. "How does he know 'cool dude', then?"

Raven asked. Ryand'r blushed as he responded. "He says he's studied Earth through the Green Lantern Corp and other groups with connections to our galaxy."

"Ask him why he rescued us," Robin said. Raven frowned at having to do all this talking, but relayed the message. Ryand'r replied with a lengthy soliloquy, which the mystic patiently listened to.

"He was monitoring the Psion Sentinels that attacked us. And he figured that anyone the Psions wanted to kill would be a possible ally for him and his crew."

"Makes sense," Cyborg commented. 

Beast Boy remained visibly suspicious. "He couldn't have helped us save the Longinus?"

"This ship isn't much bigger than ours was," Cyborg said. "Give 'im a little credit. It's a wonder those Sentinel things aren't blasting us right now. They must have some souped-up FTL on this thing to avoid a fight with them."

"We're cloaked," Raven corrected. "He explained that he couldn't attack the drones without giving away his position, so he followed us during the fight and waited for our deflector shields to drop. Only then could he reach into the ship and grab us with his teleportation device."

Robin looked around at the different systems being operated by the alien crew. He didn't understand the language, but he could guess from the sensor displays and control consoles what each section was responsible for. "This ship, the 'Brigadoon', may be even more of a blessing than it seems."

"Why's that?" Cyborg asked. "What's better than them saving our lives?"

"We were going to just rush into Tamaran and tell them to stop the wedding, just on our say-so," Robin explained. "There's no way the king or the royal families would have listened to us, even if Starfire defended our position. With Ryand'r's help, we might be able to piece together the evidence we need to prove that Karras is in league with Blackfire and the Psions."

"We could use the recordings that the Justice League intercepted," Cyborg suggested. "And we can probably reach Earth with this ship's communication systems." As he and Robin discussed this, Raven translated the conversation for Ryand'r. He cut in when she translated the part about the communication, confirming that it was possible.

"So maybe we have a fighting chance now," Robin concluded. "Instead of just a slim hope."

The other Titans were silent. All of them were worried about Starfire, now more than ever after the near-death experience they had just trying to get to her. Somebody out there did not want them to interfere.

"…Something isn't right here," Robin said softly.

"Ryand'r seems friendly enough," Beast Boy said. Quickly he begged Raven not to translate that part. That sword looked _very_ sharp, so he didn't want to say anything that might sound like an insult.

"It's not him. Something about this whole thing with the Psions being involved." Robin lowered his head in thought. "It doesn't make sense. Why would a species capable of planetary destruction bother to support an assassination?"

Nobody could answer. Why bother with ant-scale politics when you could simply stomp on the hive whenever you wanted to? Granted, there'd be resistance from the Tamarans, but it wouldn't be much resistance if the Psions used enough of their forces.

Ryand'r looked at the solemn group, then said something to Raven. She translated. "He says there is a room where we can stay, and he'd be glad to set a course for Tamaran before returning to base."

"Thank you," Cyborg said, bowing slightly. Ryand'r gave an 'O.K.' sign and smiled, making the teen chuckle at the young warrior.

"We're still only a few hours behind," Beast Boy said. "We can make it!"

Robin didn't respond. "…Doesn't make sense." He muttered to himself all the way to the bridge door, which slid open automatically as he entered the hall.

Raven confirmed the plan to Ryand'r, who nodded and started barking orders to the already active crew. Many aliens replied in alien accents as they rushed to obey. Cyborg watched the spectacle, in awe of the boy's audacity in commanding people that were probably much older than him.

Beast Boy stared at the now-closed door. "What's that all about? He slipped into Research Mode all of a sudden. He'll be zoned out for days now."

"Something has jarred his detective nature," Raven said, showing off her empathic insight into other people's nature. "I don't know what's worrying him specifically, but it's something to do with the Psions."

The green mutant frowned slightly. "The closer we get to Tamaran, the more worried he seems to become. I'm worried he's going to snap if we don't find Star soon."

"You've seen how he gets when the situation gets personal," Raven said.

"I wouldn't mind seeing him do to Blackfire what he did to those Slade-bots during one of those 'personal' missions. But… I don't know. I'm just afraid he'll make a mistake."

"Pray that doesn't happen." Raven watched Cyborg try to have a discussion with Ryand'r about the ship's specifications, which was going slowly at best. But at least the two were having fun trying.

~~ 

_ ------------------  
Five days later  
------------------  
_

Blackfire dressed herself in her skintight armor, slowly and methodically. She closed the snaps and zipped the zippers one at a time, her body moving with the utmost caution as her mind focused on other things. It wouldn't be long before she flew into the heart of her birthplace and released the destructive power the Psions had given her. She would destroy the royal families that branded her as a handicapped child, and doomed her to a life of social nonexistence.

"You are sure you are capable of doing this?" Nearby, a green-scaled alien with a metallic uniform watched Blackfire dress emotionlessly. "Your psychological profile generates only a 86% chance that you will willingly kill members of your own family."

"I already told you, _dear_," Blackfire said, using the English word 'dear' in her Psionese sentence. "I hate those people more than anything. They don't love me, so I don't love them. And it's not like I haven't killed anyone before. I've killed lots of Centauran officials and Vegan spies in my time. What's a few more people going to do?"

"These are not just any people," the alien warned. "They are your blood - your people."

Blackfire finished latching the last piece of her body armor into place, then turned around to face the alien with a dark smile. "They aren't my 'people'. You are. After all, you made me the woman I am today."

The Psion scientist nodded in approval. "This pleases me. Karras believes this is a simple assassination. He would not be able to stomach the true meaning of this mission. I am glad you are with us, Komand'r. You are truly a credit to your race."

Blackfire's smile widened as she basked in the alien's attention - the attention nobody else in her life had given her. The Psions were incapable of lying, as they'd evolved past such petty concepts as emotional relationships. So Blackfire knew that his words were absolutely true in his mind. 

The Psions valued her. Nobody else in the universe did. So she would do everything in her power to serve them. She would be their champion, as they meant for her and Starfire to be. But Blackfire would prove that she was better than her sister would ever be.

"I'm ready," Blackfire said as she swished her beautiful black hair.

The Psion's cold eyes confirmed this. "Then, it is time. The wedding will soon begin. Go, and fulfill your destiny."

~~

Starfire looked at herself in the mirror, amazed at what she saw. She didn't see a tall, gangly alien girl trying to fit it on planet Earth. She saw a beautiful Tamaran woman, dressed in her first and only wedding gown, topped by a wreath of purple and white leaves from a glubarg tree. She looked beautiful.

Starfire caught herself daydreaming of Robin in the groom's traditional Tamaran suit, standing beside her. She reluctantly shook the thought from her head. Robin was not a prince. He was not even alive. That dream could never come true.

_Can you see me now from the Highplane?_ Starfire thought. _I hope so. I wished that this day would come when I was much older, and not under these circumstances. But we must wed before festival time ends, so that peace can be achieved._

Starfire reached underneath her chair, where a pile of clothes lay. She pulled out a T-shaped device and clutched it to her chest fondly. _Give me strength, my friends. I want you to be proud of me, so that I might one day join you in the Highplane._

The thought of seeing her friends again in the afterlife was comforting somewhat. But the pain in her heart couldn't be quelled by such simplistic thoughts. She would always feel that pain. No amount of thoughts could relieve her of that.

"Koriand'r," said a gentle man's voice. Starfire turned to see her father. He was always strong and tender to those he loved. He'd helped her much during this past week after the loss of her dearest friends. He'd met the Teen Titans personally, and learned about them through his daughter's letters. He understood her grief more than anyone else on Tamaran.

"_Daddy_," she said, coining an English term. She looked into his eyes sadly, knowing what was about to happen.

"It's time." The giant man stepped into the tent and placed a strong arm around his daughter in a loving hug. "Time to become a princess again."

Starfire nodded, and stood up with him. Before leaving the tent, she looked at the T-shaped device one last time and placed it on the chair she'd been sitting at moments ago. She turned her back to it and walked with her father outside, where her future life awaited.

The device beeped to life. But alas, Starfire was not close enough to hear it.

~~

"Come on, come on," Robin growled. His Titan communicator was hot-wired into the Brigadoon's interstellar communication system, allowing him to access Starfire's device even though she was several light-years away still. But he wasn't getting any answer, and he couldn't keep trying much longer. The longer he kept the communication signal open, the more likely it would be detected by the Psions or some other interplanetary system. Finally, Robin swore and shut off the communicator. "No answer. Why can't she answer?"

"She's getting married, dude," Beast Boy said. "No cell phones allowed at the wedding." Robin glared at the green mutant, who sweatdropped nervously. He might've stepped a _tad_ too far with that comment.

Ryand'r said something to his bridge crew. Raven translated. "We're approaching Tamaran at sub-light speed."

"The Tamaran have centurion battalions posted at regular intervals all over the planet," Cyborg noted as he looked over an alien's shoulder. "And odds are that they'll attack anyone who tries to get onto the planet during the ceremony."

"Those Psion guys are probably waiting nearby to make sure their plan goes well," Beast Boy added.

"And Blackfire is on her way," Robin added nervously. "Things aren't looking so good. No matter which direction we go, somebody's going to attack us."

"So, what's the plan?"

Ryand'r turned around and said something. Raven translated, "Let us deal with Blackfire. We will do our best to stop her in orbit. You teleport to the surface and find your friend."

"Can you teleport us to where Starfire is?" Robin asked. Raven translated the question and the response.

"He can teleport you to the palace entrance. Everything inside is protected by deflector shields that also prevent mass-energy transport."

"Great," Beast Boy said. "So we have to get through the palace. And these guys are going to attack us no matter what we say, since they don't understand us and everything's on high alert."

Robin turned and headed for the teleported room. "Then we'll make them understand. We're getting to Starfire no matter what. And she'll warn everybody about Blackfire and Karras, before it's too late."

The other Titans followed their fearless leader, leaving Ryand'r and his crew behind. The young boy whispered a Tamaran prayer of good luck, and returned his attention to the ship. They would find Blackfire and stall her for as long as they could. 

Ryand'r just hoped _somebody _could stop her.

~~

Robin and the other Titans appeared at the drawbridge of Northern Tamaran's royal palace. Several dozen guards saw the flash of the teleportation and rapidly responded to the threat. The armored centurions leapt into the sky and flew in like hawks descending upon stranded mice. Little did they know that these mice had big teeth.

"Find Starfire and warn her about the attack," Robin ordered. "Titans, GO!" He drew a razor-edged bird bomb and raced across the drawbridge as the other Titans did the same. Robin leapt and dove through several centurions before reaching the other side, where he was attacked by a swarm of these guys. He used his martial arts prowess to good advantage and took out most of the soldiers within seconds. Cyborg and Beast Boy used similar physical feats to down their attackers, while Raven used her force magic to smoothly defend herself as she walked. Any attacker who so much as touched her was catapulted away with blistering force, some of them flying through their own castle walls as a result. If it weren't for the Tamaran physiology, they would have died from such force.

Robin growled and swept all his enemies away with a whirlwind attack, then dashed into the castle grounds to catch up with the others. Cyborg and Beast Boy were fighting off more centurions, this time ready to defend themselves against the children they underestimated before. The soldiers drew their swords and halberds, and swung them with malicious intent.

"Robin, Raven, you head down that way!" Cyborg ordered, pointing down one of the palace halls. "B.B. and I will head down this way and draw some of them away from you."

"Right!" Robin shouted back. He dashed down the hall, leaping over several guards as he did so. Raven knocked them all back with a single word, catapulting them into the walls with enough force to knock them out. She followed at a slower pace, her mind scanning her surroundings for signs of Starfire or Blackfire. She prayed that she found Starfire first.

Robin slid around a corner, where five centurions were waiting for him with blades drawn. They swung with expert precision and blinding speed, forcing Robin to duck and roll under several near-hits. The blade slashes managed to slice through parts of Robin's cape, thanks to the superhuman strength of the Tamaran men. They weren't as strong as Star was, but they were strong enough to make a sword lethal even for a titanium-armored superhero.

Robin drew his power pole and extended it with fluid motions. He spun the weapon behind him before bringing it down with full force on one of the enemies, smashing the side of his head hard enough to knock him down. Robin deflected two other swings and leapt over a third before kicking another attacker in the face. He stabbed his power pole into the ground and flipped over it, allowing him to uppercut another enemy with the bottom end. He landed on his feet and stopped the sword swings of the remaining two, before batting one of them into the other. With his five attackers stunned, Robin raced down the castle hall and took a right, hoping to find his way to the center of this maze before it was too late. It wouldn't be long before the true danger arrived.

_"Robin, come in,"_ Raven said through her communicator. Although they went down the same hall, Robin quickly left her behind due to their dramatically different paces.

He drew his T-shaped circlet and clicked it on. "Report!"

_"Starfire is in the center of the palace. But the castle halls are built like a maze to prevent invaders from reaching the central courtyard easily."_

"Tell me something I don't know," Robin groaned. Two attackers charged him, but he leapt onto the wall and flipped over them before their swords could connect. He axe-kicked one of them in the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious instantly before using a roundhouse kick on the next guy, all before landing on his feet.

_"Whatever prevented Ryand'r from teleporting us into the palace itself is also keeping me from phasing through the walls and is stopping Cyborg's and Beast Boy's attacks. We'll have to find a way through the maze, or fly over the castle walls and fight our way through even more soldiers."_

"You and Beast Boy get back outside and try to fly over the walls to the central court," Robin ordered as he ran. "Cyborg and I will keep going through the halls."

_"One last thing,"_ Raven said. _"Blackfire is in orbit now."_

That meant that Blackfire would soon be attacking the palace for the assassination. They didn't have much time. "We can't do anything about her until she gets to the surface. For now, focus on Starfire and warning everyone."

Raven clicked out in response, and Robin pocketed his communicator. He rounded the bend into another hallway and resumed the battle with another batch of centurions. He refused to let them stop him. Because if Blackfire succeeded in completing her attack, Starfire might be killed along with her entire family. And who knew what such a blow would do to Star's spirit.

_Nobody hurts Star while I'm around. Nobody._

~~

Blackfire laughed as she watched the battered vessel known as Brigadoon escape into the safety of being cloaked, presumably to aid in its escape. With its FTL engines out of commission thanks to her attacks, the ship wouldn't get very far. They'd be forced to return to Tamaran eventually, assuming the planet was still there when she was done with it.

_Now that _that's_ over, I can get back to what I was originally going to do._ Blackfire flew the relatively short distance to Tamaran's sun and threw her arms wide as she called out to the source of Tamaran's life. The light of the star bathed her, and her body absorbed it greedily like a sponge in water. A normal Tamaran could not hope to survive such close proximity to a star, but Blackfire was not a normal Tamaran. Like her sister, she was special. But unlike her sister, she knew how to use her powers with the utmost ability. That was what made her better.

_It feels so good,_ Blackfire realized. Her body was literally pulsating with the light of the sun as it was converted into physical energy. Her eyes glowed deep violet, just like they did when she called on her star bolts in combat. But now, her entire body was on fire with this violet light. Her body's aura shined as brightly as any star, albeit the light was violet rather than gold. Her strength increased, slowly but surely surpassing her normal abilities.

The power boost wouldn't last for long, but it would last long enough for her to destroy Tamaran and everything on it. And she would accomplish the mission that the Psions wanted her to accomplish. Karras would be _so_ surprised when the attack came earlier than expected.

When Blackfire felt she'd reached her absolute limit, she turned and flew back to Tamaran's orbit in seconds. She held her palm towards the beautiful pink-and-white orb, and focused as she called on her special abilities. A pinpoint of light appeared at her hand. Slowly, it started to grow as she channeled the stolen light through her body with great effort. With enough time, she would form the largest starbolt ever made.

_It might take me a few minutes,_ Blackfire thought to herself. _But when this baby's finished, Tamaran will be nothing but an asteroid belt. And everyone in the galaxy will know who did it._

_Then, baby sister, you and I will show the Psions what we're really made of._

~~

"What's all the commotion about!?" Karras demanded. Starfire and him were standing in front of the two kings of the planet, awaiting the completion of their ceremonial vows. But the sounds of explosions within the castle walls were disturbing the ceremony.

A centurion ran to the kings to report. "Invaders are attacking the palace! They are overpowering our forces! We must get your majesties to safety!"

"Take Princess Koriand'r to safety," Karras said, unsheathing his blade from his ceremonial scabbard. The sword was real, but the scabbard was designed to be pretty rather than functional like his real one. "I will join the troops in combating this menace." Secretly, Karras wondered what this disturbance was. Komand'r was supposed to attack from the sky with her starbolts; she was not supposed to have anyone helping her. Were these invaders part of the Psions' plans, or was it someone else?

"I can assist you!" Starfire said, her hands glowing with green light. But her father lowered her fists.

"You are not on Earth anymore, my daughter," King Myand'r said seriously. "The invaders may be something far worse than you are prepared to handle. Please leave this to Prince Karras and his elite guardians."

The stated guardians were waiting nearby as part of the ceremony procession line. They were dressed in all manner of flamboyant colors, as if they were color-coded rangers ready to battle evil. But it was obvious from their demeanor and their types of weapons that they were South Tamaran's elite guardians - the deadliest warriors the planet had to offer.

"But father," Starfire begged. "I…"

"I understand," he said. "But you have a greater purpose than that of a warrior, now. You are a princess and a figure of hope. You must stay alive, no matter what."

"Do not worry about me, fair princess," Karras said, playing his part of the loving husband. "I will return unharmed, and I will make sure nobody is hurt by these invaders."

Starfire wanted to help stop these villains, but she knew that she wasn't a Teen Titan anymore too. On Tamaran, she was indeed a princess with 'higher' concerns than fighting. And the Vegan system had enemies that even she couldn't hope to defeat. She had to trust her father's judgment in this situation, and she had to trust Karras.

"…Very well," she said reluctantly. "Please be careful."

"You as well," Karras replied. He nodded to his father and King Myand'r, and the two men fled with the young princess and the rest of the nobles to another region of the palace that was currently not under attack. A swarm of centurions went with them, intent on defending their royal leaders with their lives if necessary.

Karras turned to his elite guardians, who stood in a four-man line before him. When they were alone, he spoke to them. "This is not part of the plan. Blackfire was to come alone. These invaders must be trying to interfere with the plan somehow."

"Or someone else had the same idea as you," one of the guardians joked. They laughed, until Karras' stare silenced them.

"Fan out and destroy the intruders," Karras ordered. "Regardless of their reason for being here. We cannot let the ceremony go uncompleted. Otherwise, I will not be able to assume the thrones of both continents." 

"We understand, sir," said another guardian.

Karras pointed his sword towards the castle walls. "South Guardians, GO!" The four guardians and their leader went into action, each choosing a different path to enter the castle maze. The courtyard, now deserted, was silent except for muffled explosions and clashes of swords in the halls.

****

TO BE _CONCLUDED_…


	4. Act IV: Checkmate

The screen shows a chibified newscaster narrating a 'Previously on Teen Titans' sketch.

It all finally came down to this. The Teen Titans touched down on Starfire's home planet Tamaran, only to find out that they needed to fight their way through an army of soldiers in order to reach the courtyard where her wedding was taking place. Even worse, the entire castle was like one giant maze, making it that much more difficult for the heroes to find the center. And they didn't have much time to find Starfire either. Because Blackfire was in the planet's orbit, hastily forming a doomsday starbolt that would have the power to annihilate Tamaran and all her people in one fell swoop.

If that wasn't bad enough, Prince Karras still thinks he and Blackfire have the same plan! So he's dispatched his personal warriors, the South Guardians, to seek and destroy any Titan they find in the maze! It's an all-out brawl between Tamaran, the Titans, and the mysterious Psions orchestrating everything from backstage. Can the Titans win the battle _and_ save the damsel in distress?

"I sure hope so!!" Starfire shouts. A chibified Starfire pops into view beside the newscaster, making him fall out of his seat in surprise. She waves like a spastic child at the camera, then zips off. The chibified Teen Titans and the chibified bad guys chase her across the screen. The newscaster watches them leave before adjusting his glasses and clearing his throat.

Ahem. Let us hope so. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this Teen Titans event!

**Prince Charming - Part IV**

Beast Boy and Raven dodged a swarm of attackers and tried to tackle their way through the horde of flying defenders in an attempt to reach the courtyard by air. Raven flew using her magical powers, while Beast Boy transformed between several different avian species as he fought back. No matter what form he took though, a centurion managed to shave a few feathers off the mutant with every sword swing.

"Azarath Metrion SYNTHOS!" Raven shouted. With a mighty downward wave of her hands, the mystic forced the centurions to hit the castle roof so hard that the wind was knocked out of them. Before they could recover, the two fliers closed the expanse between them and the courtyard airspace. But that was as far as they got before another problem revealed itself.

_*THUNK!*_ Beast Boy slammed into an invisible barrier as strong as a titanium wall. It knocked him senseless, forcing him to revert to his normal form for a few moments as he lost all sense of balance. He fell on the barrier itself and rolled around, clutching his head in animated agony.

Raven took a pot-shot at the barrier with her magic, but to no avail. The deflector shields these people used to defend their castle were beyond tough. There was no way this technology was native. But whatever its origins, it was beyond the Titan's ability to deal with at the moment.

"Not good, not good!" Beast Boy warned. Both fliers high-tailed it out of their when the centurion defenders zoomed after them, ready to exact their revenge for the damages they'd incurred so far. As they fled for safety, Beast Boy drew his communicator from his belt and pushed Cyborg's blue button.

"Dude, come in! We need help up here, pronto!"

_"I'm a little busy!"_ Cyborg grunted, just before the sound of his sonic cannon washed over the comm line. _"Did you reach the courtyard?"_

"Yes and no." Beast Boy yelped as a warrior tossed a swarm of throwing daggers his way, nearly impaling him with a dozen of them. Luckily, the green 'goblin' was quick on his feet.

_"Is it yes, or no!?"_ Cyborg took another shot at another target, but the sound of metal clashing against metal indicated his target was still there. And the sound of sparks and him yelling wasn't comforting either. _"Did you or not!?"_

"We can't get inside!" Beast Boy shouted quickly as he flashed between turtle form and human form to avoid damage from a sword strike. He did it so quickly that the communicator didn't even hit the ground before he grabbed it again. "Those funky shields are blocking the ceiling of the courtyard!"

_"With the kind of monsters in _this_ system, I'm not surprised!"_ Cyborg slammed someone with a powerful punch that made the target grunt and groan into unconsciousness. _"If you can't get into the courtyard, try to find cover until Blackfire shows up. Then attack her before she enters the castle!"_

"If we can't get inside, there's no way she can."

_"You want to bet money on that?"_

Beast Boy was about to make a witty reply, but a centurion slashed the communicator in half and nearly took Beast Boy's hand with it. The mutant yelped at the close call. He instantly shifted into a gorilla shape to fight back, but that didn't stop his attackers from pressing their assault. Two soldiers were quick enough to slash the giant ape with all their alien might, leaving two bloody gashes in the animal's massive chest. The green gorilla roared in pain as he swung his arms, clearing away the two Tamaraneans who did that to him.

"Beast Boy!" Raven shouted. An attacker from the ground tossed a storm of daggers at her, and her distracted attention made it difficult for her to dodge and block them all. A stray dagger stabbed into her shoulder, making her cry out as her concentration slipped further. Raven fell to the ground, and was met by a charging soldier ready to cleave her in two.

The wounded gorilla intercepted the attack, picking up Raven and shifting into the form of an ostrich as he dodged out of the way. The running bird dashed across the invisible barrier towards the western wall, with Raven clutching his neck for support as she grimaced in pain. With some effort, she reached up for the dagger in her shoulder, and ripped it out with a yell. She wanted to use her magic to get rid of the pain, but she dared not let her concentration focus on anything but clinging to Beast Boy and defending their rear flank from ranged attacks.

The ostrich turned its head expectantly, an animated look of worry in the bird's eyes.

"I'm okay," Raven said as she waved her free arm to sweep away two soldiers that caught up with them. "Find a place where we can heal." Beast Boy nodded and picked up speed before leaping from atop the western wall towards the violet forest surrounding the castle. Just as a second wave of soldiers were about to overtake them, Beast Boy dove into the heaviest bush patch he could find and scurried to safety. The soldiers slowed down and eventually halted, fearing the damage they'd deal to themself by diving into those prickly bushes.

Raven and Beast Boy bit their lips, finding out a little too late just how sharp the prickers on those bushes were. Raven used the lapse in the attack to concentrate on her body and suppress the pain shooting through her own body. Beast Boy was about to let out more noise, but the mystic buried his mouth with her hand. She held her body close to his to cover him with her robe, which was close enough in color to the bushes to camoflauge them.

Tamaranean soldiers moved into the forest, only a few steps away from where they hid. They spoke to each other in their native language, demanding the others to search the bushes. Others complained that searching these bushes was pointless and would hurt them more than help. Most of them presumed that their enemies were dead. The veterans in the group knew better, and affirmed the order. Reluctantly, the soldiers began searching the bushes around them, but only with their eyes and some gentle branch movement.

Raven could feel Beast Boy biting his tongue beneath her hand. She looked into his eyes, and saw them pleading at her. She looked down at his body, pressed so closely against hers, and suppressed a gasp. One of the prickers was stabbed deep into Beast Boy's thigh. The sharp point had to be three or four inches long! It must've hurt like crazy.

Raven was about to whisper something, when a soldier nearby inadvertently alerted them to his presence. He was searching the bush right next to them! Raven knew that Beast Boy wouldn't be able to shift form in this enclosed environment, even if he wanted to change into something smaller. Something about his body affected his ability to change if he was tied up or felt trapped, almost like claustrophobia. It was too risky for him to move with the soldiers searching for them. So he had no choice but to bite his tongue and take the pain. 

The mystic slowly slid her free hand down to Beast Boy's thigh and shared her magical healing effect with him to suppress the pain. It would hurt still, but not as much as before. Beast Boy's body was still tense from pressing against a woman like this, but he wasn't in searing pain anymore.

The soldier crept up behind them, and Raven pressed closer against her fellow Titan to better conceal them. Her cape covered them completely, and with the hood up they could even hide their heads. But only if Raven kept her face pressed against Beast Boy's cheek. It was embarassing, to say the least. Raven thought it was revolting that she had to be this close to the annoying little worm.

Raven glared at the green Titan, making sure he knew not to get any funny ideas. Beast Boy seemed too preoccupied with his own pain to notice her angry expression. Raven remembered that he'd been heavily wounded in the chest as well. Pressing against him like this was probably agitating those wounds too. Deep down, she felt pity for him. But he knew as well as she did that this was necessary.

Strangely, Raven found it comforting to feel his heartbeat so in-tune with hers. They were almost in perfect sync. The oddity took her mind off the tenseness of the situation. If they were caught in the condition they were in, she didn't think they would survive.

Finally, the soldiers decided that the two invaders had gotten away or died in the bushes somewhere. They flew away, presumably to return to the castle and report the situation to their superiors and compatriots. When the coast was clear, Raven used her magic to push the bush apart as gently as she could, so as not to injure themselves any further. She crawled out and helped Beast Boy do the same. The front of her uniform was soaked with the blood from his chest wounds, and his thigh was still bleeding as well. Even with her healing magic, he was in bad shape.

Raven put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Hey... are you alright?"

Beast Boy managed to lift his head to look her face-to-face. He managed a weak smile. "Good thing for us... those guys weren't as sharp... as their swords." After his weak one-liner, Beast Boy slumped forward and fell onto Raven's good shoulder. She shook him lightly, fearing that she would lose her partner if he closed his eyes for too long.

A bolt of mental lightning shot through Raven's mind as she sensed something out of the ordinary. She looked up into the sky above, expecting to see someone flying towards them. When she saw nothing, she squinted her eyes and used some of her magic to help her vision. With some effort, she was able to see what it was that touched her senses.

It was a globe of violet electricity, pulsating in the sky like a distant star. And there was a malevolent presence behind it. Blackfire.

_No..._ Now, Raven realized what Blackfire intended to do. She reached for the communicator clasping her robe together, and touched it to activate it. "Robin, come-"

_*SLASH!*_ A blade came within inches of cutting Raven's other shoulder. But luckily, it sliced the communicator brooch in half instead, causing her robe to fall open. She dodged with just enough quickness to save her life. Or, perhaps her attacker had been targeting the communicator all along.

Raven looked up into the eyes of two aliens dressed in customized warrior garb. One of them was a man holding two daggers of considerable length and dressed in violet-and-black armor. The other was some sort of animal with reptilian features and the look of something animated by a computer, except that it was moving around in real life.

"Unh-unh-unnnh," the man teased, motioning his figure in disapproval. "South Guardians don't like unfair fights. Let's keep this a two-on-two battle... shall we?"

~~

Cyborg grunted as she shambled away from a grizzly battle scene, where dozens of soldiers lay stunned thanks to well-aimed punches and half-powered sonic blasts. Unfortunately, keeping his strength in check meant taking a few blows, resulting in the loss of one of Cyborg's mechanical arms. Wires and chip sets dangled from Cyborg's damaged extremity, and the rest of his titanium body didn't look much better. Since he was cybernetic he didn't feel pain in the metal spots, but he could tell from his onboard computer that his body was in bad condition now.

"You are wounded," said a pretty, female voice. "That's too bad. We were hoping for a challenge today, but we will have to satisfy ourself with you." Cyborg turned to face the voice only to see a vaguely female shape covered in what appeared to be silver slime that literally snaked its way over the organic body underneath. The woman didn't seem at all discomforted by this. In fact, she seemed invigorated by it.

"...You workin' for Blackfire?" Cyborg asked as he stared down his opponent. Deep down, he knew no amount of staring would work on someone with living slime for clothing.

"We serve only Lord Karras," the woman hissed. "We, are Kali. Symbiote and host, forever united as one. And with our divine powers, we will destroy you and protect our sacred homeland."

"Listen, I ain't here to destroy nobody's homeland!" Cyborg said quickly. "That's what your buddy Karras is trying to do!"

"Spare us the talk, and defend yourself!" Kali's arms extended into slimy tentacles that shot towards Cyborg, but he was able to side-step the attack and counter with his remaining sonic blaster. The blast slammed into Kali's body, making her (it? them?) shriek in animalistic pain. Kali ran forward, tackled Cyborg in the gut, and carried him to the wall before crashing into it with a loud _SLAM!_ The deflector shields kept the wall from breaking, but Cyborg still felt the crushing strength of her blow. He brought his elbow down hard on her shoulder, making her stumble slightly, and kneed her in the gut to force her back. When she was more than a step away, Cyborg reared his good arm back and socked her right across the face, making her neck jerk and her body spin in a single circle like a drunk ballet dancer. Cyborg shifted his arm into a sonic cannon again and blasted her at point-blank range, making her shriek once again. The shriek died down into a dull cry, then faded entirely, leaving only the woman's smoking body behind.

Cyborg frowned, then turned. "Sorry." He continued shambling down the hall, hoping to find his way out of the maze quickly. He paused in his trek when he heard the woman chuckling behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see her standing back up, her symbiotic skin slithering even more than before.

"We are not so easily defeated," Kali said icily. "Your friends are discovering this fact as well."

Cyborg growled a warning. "You hurt my friends, you're asking for trouble."

Kali smirked. "Very well." 'She' raised her arm and motioned with her finger for Cyborg to come at her. "Please, give me trouble. Ha ha ha ha..."

Cyborg unsheathed his sonic cannon once again, and blasted her with everything he had. Kali stood there without flinching, cackling like a mad harpy as her symbiote moved furiously to defend her fleshy body. Finally, Cyborg gave up on the cannon and charged for an old fashioned football tackle. But he barely moved her a few inches before her own strength overpowered his. She brought her fists down on his shoulders with enough force to shatter human bone. Cyborg just fell to one knee, before she did it again. There were fist-shaped dents in the Titan's shoulders now.

"Give up, fool! Our strength is beyond that of any race in this galaxy," Kali boasted. "We can move castles and survive earthquakes!"

Cyborg looked up with a confident grin. "So can I." With a solid uppercut, he knocked the symbiote's head back and set her up for an equally fierce punch to the gut. Cyborg boxed her left and right, throwing all his strength into it. Kali reared back and clocked him across the jaw, knocking a tooth loose in the process. They traded blow after blow like this, with Cyborg slowly falling behind since his other arm was barely able to move, let alone inflict damage.

Kali completed the exchange with a vicious kick to the groin, followed by a roundhouse as Cyborg practically floated in front of her. The machine slid hard into the farthest wall of the hallway as it diverged into two new passages (forming a 'T' shape, naturally). He tried to get up, but his body refused to cooperate after all the damage it took.

"We will be the victor," Kali said as she wiped away a stray line of blood that had seeped through the symbiote's slime coating. "Had you been at full strength, you might've posed a challenge to us. But as you are now, you are nothing. And now..." Kali lifted her hands, and the symbiote formed vicious claws at the tips of her fingers. "You will DIE!!"

Cyborg punched with all his might, burying his fist in Kali's slimy gut. The symbiote grabbed onto Cyborg's arm and tried to wrench it aside, but the Titan held fast. Kali growled and grabbed his mechanized elbow to help, but Cyborg jerked his opposite shoulder to put his arm in the way. In the split second that she was confused by this, Cyborg shifted the arm surrounded by the symbiote into its sonic cannon form, and mentally pulled the trigger. The sonic blast slammed through Kali's actual body, making her scream in agony as the symbiote vibrated in reciprocation. The violent vibrations from Cyborg's attack eventually ripped through the opposite side of Kali's body, cutting through the symbiote and her torso completely. Her body flew through the air in line with the sonic blast before eventually crashing to the ground.

Cyborg pulled himself to a standing position, his eyes on Kali's limp body. She was still breathing slowly, thanks to the enhanced vitality the symbiote probably gave her. Even with that much damage to the vital organs in her torso, she was still alive. For how long, Cyborg could only guess.

"...I'm sorry," he said truthfully. Fighting evil meant hurting people, but he hated it when the fighting went his far. Nobody deserved to die, even if they were evil.

Kali closed her alien eyes, and her body exhaled its last breath. The symbiote melted off of her, revealing a beautiful Tamaranean woman underneath. Her face, now calm, was very elegant compared to what it had been during the fight.

Regretfully, Cyborg turned and moved on, cradling his broken arm and favoring his good side. He won the fight, but the war for him and his friends wasn't over. It wouldn't be until Starfire and her planet were safe.

~~

Robin rounded the final corner of his hallway and was glad to see that it didn't turn into another hallway. The masked hero looked into a vast room that looked like an armory of some sort. On the walls were hundreds of flags, each with different colors, symbols, and Tamaranean crests from long ago. Robin guessed the flags represented different Tamaran families and clans from history that were somehow tied to the royalty by blood or reputation. Beneath the flags were suits of "armor" made from natural products, with a style similar to ancient oriental kimonos and modern day robes. Hanging beside the suits were various weapons associated with their previous owners, each of them legendary. Looking at the room reminded Robin of the museums back home and gave him a sense of nostalgia. He shook those thoughts from his head in favor of more pressing matters and continued on.

"Like your planet, ours is one with quite a history," said a voice from the rafters. Robin stopped and looked up into the darkness. Kneeling at the highest archway in the center of the room was a man draped in robes as dark as the night sky. As Robin's eyes focused, he could make out many different symbols decorating his outfit - many of which looked familiar...

"Where's Starfire!?" Robin demanded. "And where's the king! I have to warn him about-!"

"The king and his daughter are indisposed at the moment," the man snapped. "And no brigand like you will be permitted to see him! Lord Karras has deemed it so! And I, Feidin, will make sure of that!"

"Karras..." Robin spat the name. If this guy was working under Karras, then Robin wasn't going to be able to talk this guy into moving aside. It looked like he had another fight on his hands.

"I suppose you're going to try and stop me." Robin sneered. "But I don't have time to waste on you. So take my advice and stay up there."

"I intend to," Feidin said with a malicious chuckle. "But not because you asked me to." The man put a palm over a symbol on his robe, and his hand started to glow red as he called forth some mysterious power. Robin took a defensive stance as the man threw his hand forward, seemingly throwing the symbol through the air until it landed on the ground as a red marking. Light shot up from the symbol in a vast, explosive column, and eventually revealed a warrior dressed in a suit of Tamaranean armor and wielding a giant staff.

Great. Magic.

Robin drew his power pole and extended it just as the summoned warrior attacked. A rapid exchange of attempted hits and sudden parries followed, with the warrior leaping and dodging just as quickly as Robin could. Robin dipped to the side and slashed his pole upwards, knocking the warrior's head back with a loud _crack_!

Suddenly, another symbol whizzed by Robin's head and came within inches of touching him. The hero's reflexes were quick enough to save him. The symbol slapped against the floor nearby and instantly incinerated that spot in a localized ball of fire. That could've been Robin had he not dodged.

"Fight all you like," Feidin taunted as he reached for two more symbols. "I have trained under the mystic tutors of Vega VI! There is no way you can defeat 'Kanji Magic' with physical force!" With that, he threw the two charged symbols to the ground, and each of them expanded into two more warriors. One of them was a barbaric alien with stone skin and a giant axe, while the other was a geometric figure made from several interlocked rings with barbed tips as long and sharp as daggers. They shot into the fray, forcing Robin to go purely on the defensive as he ducked, leaped, and parried like a fired-up Jackie Chan.

Robin reached for his belt with split-second speed and drew one of his energy disks - specifically the one that blinded targets when it exploded. He leaped up as the barbarian and the warrior tried to tackle him, ending up in each other's grip instead. Robin jumped from the barbarian's shoulder and threw the disk at the wizard with all his might.

Feidin reacted quickly. He revealed his left palm, where another symbol was already prepared. It flashed a Tamaranean ideogram, which froze the disk in mid-flight with some kind of telekinetic power. Feidin waved his arm again, and the disk shot back towards Robin before exploding above the ground at a specific height programmed into the weapon. Robin shielded his eyes just in time, but doing so gave the sightless geometric alien a free shot. The creature spun rapidly like a chain saw and sliced into Robin's shoulder, making him yell in pain as it cut through his titanium polymer costume and into his flesh. Robin smacked the thing aside with his power pole when he opened his eyes again, then leapt to safety a few meters away. He grabbed his shoulder, then gritted his teeth as another yell tried to escape his throat. Robin could tell from the pain he felt that several of the creature's barbs were stuck inside his flesh, cutting deeper every time he tried to move his limb.

"Do you see now?" Feidin taunted, in English as he had this entire battle. Robin assumed some sort of magic was projecting the alien's words into his mind so that he could understand them. It probably had the same effect for Robin's words. 

"I see a coward, helping another coward hurt his own people."

"Silence! You cannot beat my army of magical creatures and evocations. I will appease my prince and destroy you!" The summoned servants advanced, ready to continue the attack, while Feidin charged up still more symbols by touching his robe.

Robin gritted his teeth as he gripped his power pole with both hands, and charged into the fray towards the summoned trio. This guy wasn't going to waste any more of his time. Starfire was waiting for him. And so was Karras.

"Futile!" the wizard shouted. "Attack, my servants! Destroy the infidel!"

Robin proceeded with the utmost delicacy, yet retained all his speed and dexterity. He deflected the barbarian's axe with a well-timed, well-placed hit of his pole. The warrior came next, whom he disarmed with a solid kick to the side of the creature's hand, forcing him to drop the pole. The creature that looked like living barbed wire was last and tried the most direct attack of "tackling" Robin, presumably to entangle and crush him. Robin simply side-stepped that attack and rushed towards the nearest wall. He jumped three steps up the wall before leaping backwards, flipping through the air underneath the archway Feidin was resting on. The wizard reacted slowly and tried to attack with one of his symbols. By the time the symbol flew past Robin's head, two bird-bombs were already sailing through the air towards the beams supporting Feidin's section of the archway. They sliced through the beam easily before sticking into the ceiling. Feidin yelled as he fell the four or five meters to the ground and landed ungracefully on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

Robin landed, turned around, and tossed an energy disk at the spot where Feidin fell. The wizard yelled for his creatures to protect him, but it was for naught. The disk exploded just above Feidin and sprinkled him with a special mixture, which quickly froze the wizard and the air around him. Feidin was a giant ice cube in seconds.

The creatures charged progressively slower, before finally winking out of existence. They left nothing but pungent smoke behind. Without their master's conscious effort, they couldn't exist. And nobody could exert conscious effort if their brain was frozen.

"I've dealt with things far worse than you in Gotham City. You never had a chance against me."

Robin turned and ran out of the room's hallway exit, his left hand resting on his injured right shoulder. He could only hope that his off-hand was enough to deal with Karras, because the fate of Starfire and the planet might depend on it.

~~

Raven cradled Beast Boy as best she could with her attention divided between him and the two aliens getting ready to kill them. Beast Boy looked up, his pain and exhaustion overshadowed by his terror at the new threat.

"I, am Dirkin," said the more human-looking of the two. His words were in Tamaranean, but Raven used her magic to make it possible for Beast Boy and her to understand it. "A Tamaranean warrior from a clan of assassins." He motioned towards the unnatural beast beside him. "This is Skirk, a 'pet' of mine. He's smarter than he looks, and has a taste for mutant biology. Translated for you simple humans, that means he'd really like to eat your green friend there."

"Mmm-ner mermer-fer!," Beast Boy protested into Raven's... um, chest. Raven sweatdropped, then shoved him into a sitting position. He smiled apologetically, then reiterated his comment. "You won't eat me without a fight!"

"Good," Dirkin leered. "Skirk likes to chase his food. And while he's playing with you, I'll entertain myself with the little missy here." The assassin drew two serrated daggers from a pair of sheaths on his belt and twirled the blades expertly. Skirk growled hungrily beside him.

(Are you going to be okay?) Beast Boy whispered as he managed to get on his feet.

(...Yeah,) Raven replied simply, standing as well. (Don't die.)

(Same to you.) Beast Boy shifted into the form of a vicious predatorial dinosaur called a Velociraptor and screeched at Skirk with a bird-like pitch. The animals rammed each other with full force and rolled over each other, each trying to secure a death lock on the other's jugular.

"I can tell by your lack of armaments that you have special powers of some sort," Dirkin noted with an evil smile. "I hope for your sake that your powers can protect you from my blades."

Raven stared eerily at her opponent. "...Worry about yourself."

Dirkin flashed out of sight, and the surrounding air rushed in to fill the vacuum he left behind. Raven knew immediately that was a teleportation effect, since she could do the same with her magic over short distances. She could sense magic in the air, alerting her that this assassin possessed alien magic of some kind.

Raven disappeared into the ground through a dark hole that swallowed her up just as the assassin reappeared behind her. Dirkin slashed at empty air, then flipped backwards as talon-shaped darkness shot from the ground. A dark portal opened a few steps away, and Dirkin immediately reacted by throwing a handful of tiny stars at it. The portal swallowed them up before closing them again. Dirkin expected his magical opponent to appear from that portal, but Raven remained unseen.

"You can't hide forever, little birdie," Dirkin taunted.

_Who says I'm going to?_ In a flash of ebon energies, a giant raven-shaped spirit arose from the earth like a ghost shrouded in black flame. The four-eyed raven cawed mightily, then flapped its wings to full extension.

Dirkin laughed as he danced from foot to foot like a boxer. "A 'Soul Self', used as a stand-in for magicians who practice the arts of astral projection. I have seen this technique many times, child. It does not frighten me."

_I'll have to remedy that._ Raven chanted her magic words from her hidden location, and the words manifested as three mystical symbols above the projection. The symbols formed into a triangle, then flashed with red light that shot at Dirkin like a storm of lasers. The assassin blinked side-to-side as he rushed forward, his daggers glowing with a magical effect of his own.

"Assassin's Technique - Crucifixion!" Dirkin teleported right in front of the massive raven and stabbed one of his daggers into the heart of the creature. The spirit shrieked as powerful magic shot through its body and Raven's. The bird and Dirkin's dagger flashed out of sight, the sound of a thunderclap announcing their departure. Raven was wrenched into the real world before being bound to a nearby tree by three red blades composed of magic. Two of the blades were in her hands, while the third impaled her feet atop each other at the base of the tree. She literally looked like she was crucified.

The assassin confidently walked forward. "As I said, I've dealt with your kind before. Lord Karras made sure that I developed techniques to combat magical enemies, especially those advanced enough to call upon spirits and the like." 

He leaned forward, the tip of his remaining dagger held at Raven's neck. "I don't know how a child like you can be that advanced. But it doesn't matter. You will be dead soon."

"...The reason is simple," Raven whispered, the top half of her face obscured by her hood. Her eyes slowly changed blood red. "**Daddy taught me well.**"

Dirkin was aghast. His mind was flooded with an overwhelming feeling of evil. Not just normal, petty evil, but PURE evil - something that _every _mortal feared. "What... are you!?"

"**The last thing you'll ever see. HA-ha-ha-ha-ha!**" Raven's laugh was more feral than anything a real animal could manage. Raven's cloak swooped down on Dirkin and swallowed him up, trapping him in a dark void with nothing but manifestations of his nightmares to keep him company. His screams were fearsome and pitiable, while they lasted.

Raven floated away from the tree as Dirkin's spell dissipated. She landed on the ground, and her appearance slowly returned to normal as she regained control of her senses. Her gamble of using Anger to win paid off, but she didn't feel like she'd won. Raven slumped to the ground, her mind shaken by the experience and the thought of Dirkin dying by her hand.

Beast Boy and Skirk were locked in mortal combat, neither of them able to affect the other. No matter how quickly Beast Boy shifted shapes, Skirk's body seemed to adapt perfectly. If Beast Boy became a predator with claws and teeth, Skirk's skin hardened to unnatural levels. If the Titan became a powerhouse gorilla with muscle to spare, Skirk's muscles became just as strong. If speed became the dominant factor, Skirk became even faster. Beast Boy's thousands of shapes meant nothing if his opponent had thousands of counter-shapes!

Beast Boy changed into an eagle and shot into the sky for a moment of safety. He saw Raven on the ground, apparently weak from her battle with the now-missing Dirkin. She didn't look like she would be able to help him, so he had to do this on his own somehow. But how did he beat something that adapted to every shape he took?

Skirk grew a pair of blood-covered, feather wings from his back and flapped them hard to follow Beast Boy into the sky. The alien creature quickly reached the same altitude and maneuvered itself for a pass. Beast Boy changed into a pterodactyl to better accommodate his opponent's size. Skirk swooped by and tried to claw as he passed, but Beast Boy dove to the side to avoid the attack. The fliers traded blows as they passed each other, until both of them had five or six claw marks on their hides. The only problem was that Beast Boy was already injured from before, and Skirk seemed to be healing his injuries at a rapid rate.

The little green Titan gulped. _Think fast, Gar. Or you're Skirk-food. _Beast Boy thought about the situation carefully. Any time he changed, Skirk's body changed to best suit his needs. And each time, the changes seemed to be voluntary, since they'd only happen when Skirk noticed the change. That meant that if he could somehow trick Skirk, he could win. But how could he trick him, and in what way could he use that to his advantage?

He needed to change into something that didn't have an obvious attack. It had to be something that Skirk couldn't see or hear or smell.

Beast Boy swooped around, as if getting ready to attack again, and Skirk predictably swooped around to meet him again. Beast Boy could see Skirk's talons elongating in preparation for a deadly attack of some kind. But that didn't matter to him. The Titan's next form would drop him no matter how long his claws were.

The moment Beast Boy and Skirk clashed, he changed into a giant jellyfish and splashed onto Skirk's face in an impromptu tackle. He clutched Skirk's head and attacked with this breed's primary attack – paralytic poison. Thousands upon thousands of microscopic barbs in the jellyfish's tendrils stabbed into Skirk's head and neck before injecting him instantly with countless units of poison, far deadlier than any snake or spider poison. Skirk shook its head back and forth, feeling incredible pain from the needle-like shots and the overall strangulation. The creature shifted its upper body into a hard, stone-like substance to block the tendril barbs from getting in any deeper, but by then it was too late. The poison was already working its way into every part of Skirk's body. For this particular breed of jellyfish, the poison attack was near instantaneous. Skirk's body went limp and started to fall. Beast Boy let go before shifting into a bird and floating safely to the ground, while Skirk crashed loudly and painfully.

Beast Boy changed into a human in mid-landing and dropped to one knee to catch his breath. All that shifting had exhausted him, but in the end it proved to be enough. He and Raven were alive. The only problem was that they wouldn't be able to continue on for a while. They needed rest.

Beast Boy slumped back, his eyes closed sleepily. Just a little rest. Then he'd jump back into the fight.

~~

Starfire wanted to help stop the villains invading the castle, but she knew that she wasn't a Teen Titan anymore too. On Tamaran, she was indeed a princess with 'higher' concerns than fighting. And the Vegan system had enemies that even she couldn't hope to defeat. She had to trust her father's judgment in this situation, and she had to trust Karras.

But doing so proved much harder than she imagined. As her and the other nobles fled through the tunnels, led by their royal guards, her mind weighed heavily on the subject. They eventually reached a place deep inside the castle's underground catacombs, which led to an underground carriage drawn by a blorgian earthworm. The nobles took turns getting into the cab at the guards' direction, giving Starfire even more time to think.

"Do not worry about Karras," her father Myand'r said fondly. "He is a fine young man with a strong heart and a swift mind. He will protect you and the kingdom."

"I am sorry to say this father," Starfire started. "But I do not _wish_ to be protected. I wish to protect! Please, let me go back! I can help him!"

"No Koriand'r, it is too dangerous! I will not let my daughter fly into such danger!"

"You let me go to Earth!" she said sharply.

"Earth is _not_ dangerous."

"You do not understand, father!" Starfire said, turning her back on him angrily. "In all my letters, I gave the appearance of Earth being safe because of my constant victories. But many times, the only reason I survived the dangers of Earth's villains was because of my friends! They taught me so much!"

"Koriand'r..."

Starfire faced him again, this time with tears in her eyes. "My friends... they gave me the greatest gift in the world – the ability to _help_ people! Now that they are gone, I want to use that gift more than ever! It is the only way I can live up to their memory!"

King Myand'r, ruler of the largest kingdom on his home planet, was at a loss for words. For the first time since their reunion, he realized just how much his daughter had grown up. She was not a child that needed to be protected. She was a young woman with a heart full of love, a soul full of strength, and a purpose driven by both.

"...Please father!" Starfire begged. 

Myand'r sighed reluctantly. "...There is an old proverb that your mother liked to remind me of before her passing. 'A warrior is strongest when she is fighting for Love and Friendship.' I never imagined those words would apply to my precious daughter as well."

Starfire smiled. "Then...!"

"Go. I will pray for your safe return. Show us the strength of a 'Teen Titan', as it were."

Starfire buried her father in a hug. "Thank you! I love you so much!"

"And I you. Return safely, dear Kori."

"I shall." Starfire rose off the ground and zipped back into the tunnel from whence they came. She waved to her father one last time, then flew away. Myand'r sadly, but proudly, watched her leave.

"Shall we go, sir?" asked one of the guards. Myand'r was the only noble present that wasn't in the cab.

The king smirked. "You may go. I shall wait for my daughter's return – for good or for ill."

"But-!"

"You have your orders," Myand'r said. He turned, his cape flowing as he did, and slowly walked from the loading zone. "Keep the others safe."

The soldier looked at his fellow guards for suggestions, but none of them knew what to say. Finally, the soldier just nodded and saluted the king's back. "Yes, your majesty." The guards entered the cab quickly, and the earthworm took off with the cab in tow. Soon, Myand'r was alone, his eyes closed in prayer for his daughter's safety.

~~

It was the royal courtyard, where the wedding was to be held. And after a lot of running, Robin finally found it. The masked hero looked around calmly to see if Starfire was there. Unfortunately, the only person waiting for him there was not Starfire. It was a young man, dressed in a warrior's finery and holding a long, rune-covered sword to the side. Robin's eyes thinned angrily as he realized who this noble figure had to be.

"I knew you would eventually make it here, 'Robin'," Karras said, his voice filled with iciness. "The knight has come to rescue the fair princess. Like in the fairy tales, yes?"

Robin clenched his fists tightly, wringing out any air that might've been inside them. "Starfire doesn't deserve to be treated like this. Using her trust and love as a way to usurp power is beyond low. As far as I'm concerned, you're scum."

"That means so much, coming from you," Karras ridiculed. "I've had to put up with descriptions of you for too long. Blackfire thinks you're some kind of threat to my skills as a warrior, or my hold on Starfire's heart. I'm going to prove, once and for all, that you're nothing to me."

"Blackfire is going to kill everyone on this planet," Robin snapped. "Including you."

Karras chuckled. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. A mind as simple as yours can't grasp the cunning plan we've concocted."

"Then let me try to spell it out for you," Robin said coldly. "There is only one reason the Psions, a race capable of destroying planets with their armies and technology, would ever consider working with you in an assassination attempt."

Karras' face betrayed his astonishment. "You know about the assassination attempt?"

Robin continued. "The only thing the Psions and Blackfire are after is Starfire. They want their weapon back. And the only way they can get her back is if her spirit is broken... by losing her friends and family in one big swoop. That's what this is all about."

The prince was dumbfounded. "Wh-what!?"

"You didn't know?" Robin said with mock surprise. "You honestly thought they were going to help you become the planet's sole ruler? Perhaps my 'simple mind' is misreading all the obvious clues. Or perhaps... you've been had."

"Lies!" Karras shouted.

"Starfire is the only thing that matters to them!" Robin yelled back. "She's the key to all of this! The Psions are going to blow up the whole planet and everyone on it, counting on Starfire's enhanced abilities to let her survive. And when she realizes that her home and her family is gone, she'll be crushed and become nothing but an empty shell of her former self. They'll make her a slave again, and then they'll have nothing to fear. Because her and Blackfire are the only things they truly fear."

"Lies!" Karras repeated. "She is nothing but a pawn! She means nothing to them!"

"If that's true," Robin said evenly. "Then why is Blackfire in orbit right now, when she should be down here helping you?" Robin pointed up towards the sky without turning his head. His finger pointed straight at the large violet orb, high above the atmosphere. "And how do you explain that? It looks a lot like a starbolt to me..."

Karras growled and brought his sword before him. "I've heard enough! I'm going to sever your head and force that red-haired twit to see it. Then I'll laugh at her pain and tell her how pathetic you really are!" The Tamaranean floated centimeters above the ground and shot across the courtyard like a bullet, bringing his sword down on Robin. The hero's power pole was already out and blocked the attack just in time. The duel had begun.

"You give that child too much credit!" Karras snarled as he swung his sword rapidly and powerfully, forcing Robin back with each hit. "She and her sister are nothing compared to me!"

Robin parried as best he could with his injured shoulder, which continued to bleed thanks to the barbs wedged inside the wound. "I've shot Starfire at point blank range with a thermal blaster without so much as cutting a hair. And Blackfire is even stronger than her. Next to the 'Kryptonian', they may be the strongest aliens in the universe. The only thing holding them back is adolescence. If the Psions turn Starfire into a mindless brute, they'd have nothing to fear - in this system or any other!"

Karras caught Robin's hand with the edge of his blade, cutting through his glove and flesh with ease. The warrior then brought his sword down hard, slicing through the power pole and spraying sparks in all directions as a result. Karras missed on the follow-up strike and was off-balance enough for Robin to twist the sword from his grasp, sending it clattering to the ground. The fighters, now unarmed, started trading punches and kicks in a martial arts battle of epic scope.

Karras' right hook slammed Robin in the jaw, spinning him around in mid-air from sheer force. He kicked straight up and sent Robin flailing high in the air before crashing on the ground. The prince flew over and slammed a foot on Robin's wounded shoulder, making him howl in pain. Robin gritted his teeth and kicked the back of Karras' head as hard as he could, knocking the warrior forward and allowing Robin to get back on his feet. The Boy Wonder threw so many punches in such a short time that Karras could only see flashes of green fists between hits. The alien somehow managed to block a punch, and the two warriors clutched each other in powerful holds – Robin had the prince's wrist, and Karras had Robin's elbow. It was a judo-style tug-of-war.

"You may be right," Karras admitted through gritted teeth. "But if I am going to be betrayed and killed, I want to die fighting like a true warrior. And I want to die knowing that some mangy, lovey-dovey _human_ is not my equal!!" Karras pushed with a sudden burst of strength and snapped Robin's elbow, twisting his arm to the side at an unnatural angle. Robin cried at the sudden shock to his system, but his yell was cut short by a powerful knee to the gut that knocked him away and made him roll across the ground.

Karras caught his breath, then methodically walked over to where his sword lay. He picked the weapon up and closed the distance between him and Robin, who lay on the ground in a crumpled heap as he tried to lift himself up.

"I think I have proved my point without a doubt. I will take _good _care of Koriand'r, like I promised her after your _convenient_ death," Karras sneered. 

Robin growled from the ground, and in his anger managed to lift himself to a kneeling position with the less injured of his two arms. But there was not much he could do beyond that in his current state.

Karras lifted his sword high, his eyes locked with Robin's. "This ends now."

Just as the sword came down, a violent explosion crashed into the blade's side in mid-swing. Karras finished the cut, only the find that he missed Robin because of his now much shorter weapon. The upper half of the sword twirled around in mid-air, flying upwards at an arc before falling down with gravity a few meters away. Karras watched the edge of the blade impale the ground. But the truly shocking sight was his bride standing at a tunnel entrance behind it. And she looked _pissed_.

"Koriand'r!? What are you doing here!?"

Starfire flew across the courtyard until she was hovering just in front of Karras, her eyes looking down the short distance to his. She towered above him since she was hovering, but her glare was the truly intimidating factor at that moment. Her eyes were bright green and burning with thermonuclear fury. It was like looking at a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"H-how long have you been there?" Karras stuttered, trying to sound suave.

"Long enough." Starfire grabbed the edge of Karras' collar and lifted him off the ground easily. "How dare you try to hurt my friends! You.... YOU...!" Her anger was so strong that her hands were literally burning Karras' collar. He struggled to break free of her grip, until the collar ripped on its own after burning away most of its solidity. The prince stumbled backwards, with Starfire floating towards him slowly. He continued this until his back hit the wall, at which point he slumped downards until he was a crumpled heap of gibbering fear.

"Starfire, don't!" Robin shouted. Starfire snapped out of her angry prowl, and her gentle eyes looked down at Robin, who was barely on his knees. His masked expression remained intense even in his weak state. 

Starfire turned and gave the prince an angry glare as she summoned energy to her hand. He whimpered in terror, thinking she was about to end his life. Instead, she blasted away the crown on his head, turning it and most of his hair into flakes of ash.

"You are a traitor. As such, you are relieved of your crown and your rights as a Tamaran citizen. I can execute you, or you can leave this planet and never return. Be glad that Robin was here to remind me of that!"

Karras didn't protest. He jumped into the sky as fast as he could, and never looked back. It wasn't long before he was a distant twinkle in the sky. He wisely stayed away from the part of the sky where Blackfire was, because she probably would've killed him the moment he showed his face.

Robin looked up at the floating princess, still garbed in her wedding outfit. She, in turn, looked down at him with eyes that seemed to twinkle like the starlight she was named after. It was as if a spark inside her was suddenly burning to life. 

Starfire descended on Robin and gripped him tightly in a fierce hug, making him grunt in pain. She cried his name many times, her face rubbing against his and her arms refusing to let go. Her words were punctuated by tearful gasps of sheer joy as she realized that Robin was really alive and in her arms at that very moment. It wasn't a dream, an illusion, or a fantasy – it was real.

"Robin! Robin, Robin... *sniff* I... I... *sniff*"

"Hey, take it easy Star," he said with a gentle smile. "Squeeze any harder and you'll break the rest of me." Starfire cried and laughed at the same time, and only hugged him harder as her feelings took over. Robin regretted ever joking about being broken in half, because he was certain it would actually happen this time. Luckily, his body survived her tearful adulation.

"I thought my happiness was gone forever," Starfire said, when she could speak again. "I thought... my life would be one of sadness and loneliness."

"I'd never let that happen," Robin replied. "The others and I went through a lot to get here because we care about you. We all want you to be happy – just as happy as you make us."

"Oh, Robin..." Starfire leaned close, as if to kiss him, but a sound caught both their attentions before she could connect. The violet orb pulsating in the sky for the last ten minutes or so was finally on the move, and it seemed to be bigger than ever, even from orbit. The sound of its movement was like a meteor crashing through the atmosphere, littering the planet with noise from its sheer size and speed.

"Blackfire..." Robin announced. "We're too late..."

"No we are not!" Starfire declared. She looked at Robin fondly. "I will protect you, as you have done so many times for me."

Robin didn't know what to say. His smooth tongue failed him when it mattered most.

"Please hold this for me." Starfire removed her wedding tiara and placed it in Robin's hands, then closed it gently with her own.

"A momento of the trip?"

"A reminder of the future," Starfire corrected. She kissed Robin's cheek gently. "Our future." Starfire floated upwards, then launched herself into the tunnels and through the maze at incredible speed before finally swooping upwards to intercept the falling starbolt.

"Starfire!" Robin called out. But she was already gone. And from the look of Blackfire's attack, it didn't look like she would be coming back.

~~

Blackfire took a deep breath, inhaling the ether in space since there wasn't any oxygen around to fill her lungs. With her planetbusting attack finally complete, she could feel the tension that gripped her body those ten long minutes disappear. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the planet to blow up, and for Starfire to go crazy as a result. She couldn't wait to see what her bubbly little sister would look like in such a dejected state. It would be such satisfying revenge.

"All I have to do is wait for the 'bolt to hit, then I can pick up sis' and go home." Blackfire watched her super-sized starbolt fall towards the planet, barrelling through and disintegrating clouds as it did so. She was proud of her work, and equally proud of her fine piece of work as it flew towards its ultimate goal.

She was proud, that is, until it stopped in mid-air.

"What the...?" Blackfire gave it a firm nudge with the same part of her mind that she aimed all her starbolts with, urging it to keep moving forward. But something else was holding it back. Another force was keeping it from moving forward. But the only way something could do that is if it could control the energy's movement as well.

Like Starfire.

"It can't be," Blackfire growled. "There's no way she could stop that thing by herself." Blackfire decided that it was just a fluke – some sort of charged air pocket that was interfering with the starbolt's movement. She nudged the energy ball more forcefully this time, demanding that it keep falling. It picked up speed somewhat, but it quickly crawled to a halt the moment her insistant urging stopped. She continued "pushing" the starbolt along, but doing so for a prolonged period gave her a headache and didn't accomplish much. Blackfire's irritation grew.

"Okay, that's it. Whatever is doing that is going to get a piece of me." Blackfire quickly flew through the atmosphere towards the altitude where her starbolt hovered. She flew around the building-sized globe until she found the perpetrator of the delay. As she expected, it was her little brat of a sister. Somehow, against Blackfire's better judgement, Starfire was holding the most powerful starbolt ever formed at bay.

"What is WITH you!?" Blackfire yelled. "Why do you always have to ruin my plans! Can't you think about ME for once!?"

Starfire glowered at her sister. "Stop this, sister, or I will stop you!"

"Well, duh," Blackfire snapped back. Without delay, the evil girl charged and tackled her sister in the side before carrying them both into a cloud-filled area. The massive starbolt continued its flight path towards the planet.

"You're looking pretty as usual," Blackfire taunted in her usual manner, not expecting much of a fist-fight out of her sister. She held the girl's wrists like actual siblings might in a mundane fight. "I'm surprised that Robin didn't throw you on the ground and-"

Starfire jerked one of her hands out of her sister's grip and punched Blackfire solidly in the face. The black-haired beauty floated backwards in surprise, her hand resting on the spot where she'd been hit. She gaped at Starfire, whose expression was totally serious and totally unafraid. She wasn't having second thoughts about this fight, like their last encounter. She was a totally different girl.

"You learned to throw a punch," Blackfire said, rubbing her cheek. "I'm proud of you, sis'. You're finally acting like a warrior, the way the Psions want you to act."

"Those mean people will not hurt my home," Starfire declared. "And neither will you." She rushed forward to throw another punch. But this time, Blackfire reacted with the famed "alien martial arts" moves that she flaunted verbally. She parried the flying punch before throwing one of her own. Starfire caught the punch, which shocked Blackfire again, long enough for the hero to forearm the older girl and back-fist her in the side of the head!

Blackfire recovered quickly and turned to face her sister again, this time with her eyes glowing purple. "You're really starting to annoy me!"

"Then, why do you not attack me with a starbolt?" Starfire challenged.

Blackfire reared her hand back, but she stopped herself just in time. "...Nice try, Kori. But I'm not going to mess this up that easily. If I were to throw even a little starbolt at you, that big one would lose its consistency."

"Even now, it is difficult for you to maintain its form," Starfire said confidently. "If we face off, you will inevitably lose control of your attack, for I am not under any such limitations."

"You're assuming of course that your wimpy punch could break my concentration," Blackfire smirked. "Get real, sister. You couldn't hurt me, even if I was asleep and in nothing but my _nakkies_."

"We shall see," Starfire growled. She shot forward and punched with all her might. Her sister deftly dodged it with a gentle side-step, and continued to do so as Starfire threw punch after punch. Starfire managed to connect with one, but it did little more than make Blackfire back off few steps. She didn't even seem phased by it otherwise.

"Come _on_ Kori, you can do better than that!" Blackfire pressed on. "I'm not even _fighting_! I thought Robie-poo meant something to you. Aren't you going to at least _try_?"

Starfire's eyes glowed green as she called on her own starbolts and threw a flurry of them. Blackfire turned her back and curled up into a ball to minimize the damage, since there was little she could do to dodge the bolts at such close range. Starfire exhausted her momentary strength after launching close to twenty starbolts in rapid succession, peppering her sister with smoking burns on her body armor, and presumably the skin beneath it.

Blackfire frowned intently. "Ooooouch! I was just kidding! Gee~ez..."

"You do not take me seriously! You will lose because of that!"

"Oh, I'm taking you seriously sis'," Blackfire said as she dusted her armor off. "It's just that my mind is on other things, remember? Like that starbolt that's about five seconds away from impact."

"Huh! NO!!" Starfire cried. She flew down as fast as her body could carry her. She broke the sound barrier easily, creating a deafening boom as she shot like a bullet to ground level, then went underneath the starbolt before it impacted with the ground. She "caught" the bolt with her hands and her mind, forcing it to stop with every last ounce of her will. She succeeded, but stopping the bolt was all she was able to do. She could not find the strength to move it or dissipate it safely.

"I think it's time to stick a fork in you, sister," Blackfire quipped as she held her palm out and focused. "Because you're DONE!" She brought her own will to bear on the starbolt, and "pushed" it strongly towards its intended target at the center of the planet. But there was that defiant speck beneath the bolt that held it back. Starfire refused to give up, so Blackfire continued with her insistance. The battle of wills raged on.

_I... can't do it..._ Starfire thought fearfully. Her sister was just so strong. She couldn't beat her even when she was distracted. What did she hope to do against such a dominating force?

_My friends. Father. I am so sorry. I have failed you all. _Starfire felt her knees giving out, and she fell to one knee. The starbolt continued to press down on her relentlessly. It wouldn't be long before the rest of her strength gave away.

"Don't give up, Star!" shouted a familiar voice. Starfire gasped as she felt a pair of strong, metallic hands hold her up. Starfire looked to her side, and saw Cyborg's friendly face smiling down at her.

"Cyborg!"

"We're not giving up on you Star!" he cheered. "You're the only one who can stop this thing. And win or lose, I'm right beside you!"

"We all are," drolled another familiar voice. Starfire looked to the other side, and saw Raven holding her as well. The dreary mystic gave her a rare smile. "Don't be afraid."

"Raven!"

"There's no way that psychotic witch gets away with this!" said another friend. Beast Boy grabbed one of her arms and helped straighten it out, holding it up with his physical strength and his spiritual support. "You have to win. 'Cause who else is going to laugh at my jokes!"

"Beast Boy!"

Starfire looked expectantly to her remaining flank. She saw Robin walking towards her, his body fully healed as if by magic (Raven's magic?). In the glare of the starbolt, it almost looked like Robin wasn't entirely there – like a ghost or something. In fact, all of her friends seemed that way. Was the light playing tricks on her? Or was she simply tired and her vision was foggy? In the end, Starfire was more interested in their warmth and their support than their appearance, so she ignored it.

"We're here for you Star," Robin said, holding up her other arm with his. "Because we love you."

"...I love you too," Starfire cried. 

With renewed purpose, she focused her full attention on the starbolt. She pushed herself to a standing position, straightening her legs out and raising her arms as high as she could. The starbolt slowly reversed its direction and started to lose its violet hue.

High above the planet, Blackfire was denouncing the incredible situation. "How did she...!? It's impossible!!"

In a flash, the massive starbolt erupted with green light and catapulted through the air on a reverse track towards its origin. Blackfire's eyes widened as the planetbusting 'bolt shot towards her like a cannonball.

"....Way to go sis. Show those Psions what you're made of."

The planetbuster collided with Blackfire and exploded with nuclear fire, creating a ring of energy that swept outwards from the source like a ripple in a pond. The roar of the explosion was like thunder washing over the entire planet, and the force of the explosion shook the surface furiously like an earthquake.

Starfire fell to the ground from the force, despite the friends she lot were there to catch her. Her eyes closed, and exhaustion took away her consciousness. In her sleep, she could not see the beautiful showers of light that fell from the sky, like fireworks during one of Earth's "new year" celebrations. 

It was ironic that something so destructive could also be so beautiful at the same time.

~~

[San Francisco | Two weeks later...]

After all the events on Tamaran, Starfire was glad to be home with her friends. Her father and the other nobles decided that they didn't need princes and princesses to make peace with each other, so they decided that she would be sent back to continue her life on the "safe" planet Earth. Starfire was more than happy to oblige. She promised to return if there was ever trouble like this again, or if Blackfire returned (because Starfire doubted that they'd seen the last of her tough-as-nails sister). Starfire said goodbye to her father, and they parted as they'd done long ago when she first went to Earth.

They were able to return home thanks to some help from a ship called the Brigadoon that landed on Tamaran a few days after the incident. Apparently, the ship's captain was related to Daddy somehow. Starfire didn't know how, since she never got around to meeting the captain, but she was glad he was there to help.

"All right, movie time!" Beast Boy announced. "Since this is the first movie night we've had together since we came back to good ol' mother Earth, I let Star pick out some of the movies this time."

"Didn't we try this once already?" Cyborg asked from the kitchen, where he was preparing a super-jumbo bag of popcorn. "And we ended up watching a documentary on the life and death of a porta-potty?"

"They make documentaries on that?" Raven commented.

"Trust me, these are good choices," Beast Boy said. "Star wanted very specific kinds of movies, but I was able to help her find what she wanted without falling into documentary territory."

"Well, let's get the show on the road then," Robin cheered. He plopped on the couch next to Star, who eagerly awaited for the potato-couching to start as well. Raven took a seat in one of the lounge chairs, and Cyborg whipped out his new beanbag chair (complete with extra padding for his megaton butt).

"Alright, two choices," Beast Boy announced. He held up both DVD's. "We've got Disney's Snow White, or Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves!"

Cyborg's hand shot up. "Prince of Thieves! Mad props to Kevin Costner!"

"Ple~ase," Raven groaned in disagreement.

"I have dibs on the second movie, so either one is fine with me," Beast Boy said. "Robin, you're the tie breaker. Which is it?"

Robin seemed surprised by the movie choices still, but he eventually decided on one. "If Cy' wants Kevin Costner, then I'm gonna have to say... Snow White."

"What!?" Cyborg said, his head enlarging to five times normal size in his animated anger. "Yo, that is _way_ un-cool!" Robin just grinned in satisfaction, and Starfire giggled.

"Snow White it is!" Beast Boy put the DVD into the player expertly and grabbed the remote before Cyborg could claim it for himself. He started the show, and the classic Disney movie began. Starfire watched it eagerly, while the others resisted because of its childish connotations. Every now and then though, the other Titans found themselves becoming interested in this historic animation piece – particularly around the singing parts.

_Some day my prince will come..._  
_Some day we'll meet again._  
_And away to his castle we'll go..._  
_To be happy forever I know._  
_Some day when spring is here..._  
_We'll find our love anew._  
_And the birds will sing..._  
_And wedding bells will ring..._  
_Some day when my dreams come true._

Starfire clutched Robin's arm and lay her head on his shoulder as she watched the film for the first time. When Snow White finished singing one of her beautiful songs, Robin casually leaned over and kissed Star gently. She cooed softly in response, completely content. The Titans watched the movie in peace, enjoying each other's company as they had so many times before.

Life was good. And after all that had happened, Starfire was glad to know that it would always be that way, as long as she had hope in her heart.

**The End**


End file.
